


Of Discordant Fists and Bloody Keys

by MysticaltigerSorceress



Category: One Piece
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Blood and Violence, Canon-Typical Violence, Comedy, Crack, Developing Relationship, Eventual Romance, F/M, Found Family, Friendship, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Mostly Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Personal Growth, Pirates, Societal Issues, chosen family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:40:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22768693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysticaltigerSorceress/pseuds/MysticaltigerSorceress
Summary: Renna didn't ask too much out of life, because she found joy in the little things. A good brawl after dinner, empty bars to play for, the satisfaction that is a perfect row of sutures. But since life is a b*tch who hates being generous, it won't even let you enjoy beating someone senseless without throwing a few punches at ya. So, what else is there to do but punch back harder?
Relationships: Killer (One Piece)/Original Character(s)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 37





	1. Absolute Justice Does Not Sleep, Nor Does It Take Fifteen Minute Coffee Breaks

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't marked any warnings as of yet, however, I do have a character that was raped in the past, and will be brought up at some point. I don't know to what degree yet, but I will put warnings in the note's at the beginning when that does happen.  
> Same goes for graphic violence. They are pirates. There's going to be fighting. There is going to be blood and guts and all that fun stuff. I'll leave a warning if it gets really heavy.  
> Minor Injuries in this Chapter. Nothing awful, but you know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't marked any warnings as of yet, however, I do have a character that was raped in the past, and will be brought up at some point. I don't know to what degree yet, but I will put warnings in the note's at the beginning when that does happen.  
> Same goes for graphic violence. They are pirates. There's going to be fighting. There is going to be blood and guts and all that fun stuff. I'll leave a warning if it gets really heavy.  
> \-------  
> Minor Injuries in this Chapter. Nothing awful, but you know.

“For our second to last match this evening, let me first present our lady who needs no introduction!” Lights flashed in dizzying patterns over the audience, before merging on an archway adorned with black curtains. “She’s racked up a stunning nineteen wins and has suffered only four defeats. Four-time Champion of Ringbohden, our oooownn…. Rose Dawn!” 

The audience roared their approval as a tall woman decked in red and gold burst through the curtains, and jumped up into the ring. She strode confidently around the perimeter, waving and flexing for the audience, before taking her position on the south side of the ring.

“And now, to introduce our challenger!” Lights flashed again, before centering on the doorway on the other side of the room. “Standing in the north corner is our challenger from the West. With twelve wins and only three defeats; she is currently the titleholder for the Syracuust Crown. Please welcome to the floor….. Kawaakari!” 

The crowd cheered again, though it wasn’t quite as warm a welcome as there had been for their hometown favorite. But, at least they weren’t flat out booing her. So, Renna confidently pushed past the curtains into the blinding lights and strode to the ring. After taking a lap around the ring, she took up her position in the corner opposite of Rose Dawn.

“There will be five rounds, two and a half minutes each! To win, they must take either three or more rounds by point majority, or win by submission or knock out. No weapons tonight, but otherwise, anything goes. Are you ready ladies?” The announcer was really getting on Renna’s nerves, but she tuned them out as she approached her opponent. They bumped their fists together twice, then backed up for the referee. Not that the referee actually did much. He just timed the matches and determined if someone was knocked out or not. Tallying points was left to a panel of judges watching, a formality in case there wasn't a KO. But, that’s the way of things in illegal fighting rings.

Renna had stopped listening to the announcer long before and watched the ref out of the corner of her eye. His hand dropping would signal the start of the fight. Taking a deep breath, her eyes locked onto the challenger ahead of her. Renna couldn’t help the smirk taking over her face. This was going to be fun.

– 

“WHAT AN UPSET! OUR WINNER BY SUBMISSION IS KAWAAKARI!!!” Breathing heavily, Renna lifted her fists in the air and relished the adrenaline fueling her system. The audience was screaming, but she didn’t care enough about why they were yelling. Plenty of people had won and lost bets, been disappointed or enthralled; but she had gotten the match she wanted. And so, after bathing in the after-glow for a moment, she jumped out of the ring and left the room.

Slamming the door to her prep area a bit harder than she meant to, Renna fell onto a chair and gulped down water from the table. Time to stretch, stitch, and head out for the next fight. Easing herself to the floor, Renna winced as she started to feel the ache in her hands. As she stretched her legs, she unwrapped her bandages to check the damage. 

The skin across her knuckles was bright red and raw, but there were no splits that would need stitches. She could feel her cheek swelling from a nasty hit she’d taken, but it didn’t feel like any bones were broken. Sure, Renna would have plenty of bruises come morning, but that mattered very little in the grand scheme of things. As long as she could get in the ring again soon, things would work out just fine.

A quick rap on the door was the only signal she had before the event coordinator popped in. “Your winnings.” They grunted, dropping a sack of Beri on the table, before ducking out again. Renna slowly stood up, taking the time to stretch her hamstrings and calves, before counting the money in the sack. 15 million Beri, give or take. Not bad for one fight. People must have bet a lot on Rose Dawn winning. Packing the Beri in her rucksack, she started cleaning all her little cuts and scrapes. It’d be no good to let them get infected. 

A roar came from the direction of the ring, and Renna dismissed it as the next fight getting underway. As she dabbed the cut on her cheek with disinfectant, she contemplated where she should head next. There was a tournament she wanted to participate in in the Sabaody Archipelago in a few months. But in Shal Kaar, there was supposed to be a pretty good open fight ring. Renna really wanted to stop in Shal Kaar, but if she took too long, she’d miss out on the tournament.

Renna paused her nursing, as she heard another roar from the audience. It didn't sound quite like it had before; something was different. After listening for a moment, she packed her first aid kit away, grabbed her bag, and left her room. Making her way down the poorly lit corridor, she made for the exit on the side of the building.

The door behind her crashed open, and men in white shirts with blue bandanas rushed in. “Stop in the name of Justice!” One of the marines yelled, but Renna had already taken off. Damn, it had been a while since she’d had to run from a raid. She almost took the side exit but passed it when she heard marines on the other side.

Renna sprinted and scanned the corridors for anything that looked familiar. Why did all the bloody halls have to look the same? Three more marines were racing toward her from the corridor on the left. Renna skidded and caught herself on the wall as she recognized the exit just behind the marines. 

Shoving off the wall, she rushed at the marines using her bag to knock the soldiers aside. Renna wished she had taken the time to put on her shoes when she kicked down the door with enough force to send it and the two marines behind it flying. As she cleared the doorway, she was greeted by a welcoming sight: A whole squadron of marines yelling as their comrades were thrown away from their post, and at the back, the tell-tale coat of justice on the shoulders of an officer. Of course, she had picked the door closest to those conducting the raid. Well, nothing else to do but plow forward. A quick glance and she found her escape route; a small side alley about fifteen meters to the left.

“Don’t let anyone leave until we identify all the criminals!” The big wig marine was yelling at his soldiers. The marines closest to her lifted their guns, and she instantly jumped into the pack of soldiers so they wouldn’t fire. She'd prefer no bullet wounds today, please and thank you. Renna wove in and out of the soldiers, dodging their blows and removing the guns from their grasp, all while making her way toward her escape.

Renna heard a loud noise from the building she just left and dropped into a crouch right as a barrage of rubble took out several marines near Renna. Looking up, Renna saw what had blown apart the wall lying a few meters away; some poor marine made into an impromptu wrecking ball. Everyone stared as a tall figure emerged from the newly renovated entryway. They looked rather badass as dust swirled around them, the light from the building just illuminating their silhouette. Close behind him came several others, but Renna took advantage of the distraction he had created and round housed the last man with a gun, bolting for the alley. Yelling erupted behind her, and she heard the newcomers and the marines clash.  _ You have my thanks, stranger. _ She thought as she raced closer to the alley.

Ten meters to go.

A swordsman charged Renna. She ducked as he swung, then jumped and kicked him in the chest to launch herself in the air. She sailed over several soldiers, before planting her feet on the shoulders of another marine to break her fall. As he went down, she tucked and rolled out of it, and continued to sprint.

Five meters.

Renna heard running from behind. She pivoted and a sword was inches from her face. She instinctively threw her hand to push the blade away, but missed and lost her balance. Renna could barely believe what she was seeing. The marine in front of her was confused and yelling, his sword missing. A single shout registered in her head as she ran the remaining distance to the alleyway.

“THAT’S CAPTAIN KID! TAKE COVER!" A quick glance over her shoulder just before she entered the alley proved more confusing than clarifying, but she could worry about that later. Time to beat it.

First was distance; as much as possible as quick as possible. Given that the whole southern end of Achave was one massive city, it would be easy to get to another part of the city to blend in. She tore through streets and alleyways, and after almost twenty minutes, she finally slowed to a stop behind a bar. As she caught her breath, Renna sat and started rummaging through her bag. 

Where were her shoes? She scoured her bag again. Money, clothes, bandages, book, but no shoes. Renna cursed under her breath as she realized she'd forgotten her shoes back in her room. She'd just have to make do for now. So she pulled a dark jacket and sweatpants over her fighting clothes and took to the main road.

Walking casually, she started making her way to the southern harbor. Thankfully, it wasn't too late out that it'd be suspicious to be out and about. Given that the incident had taken place closer to the eastern harbor, she doubted there would be as many marines posted there. She’d simply hop on a passenger ship first thing in the morning. 

All these thoughts instantly flew from her mind as she saw a restaurant that was still open. Her stomach was loudly complaining about the fact she hadn't eaten anything since noon. Purchasing three sandwiches, she walked for a bit longer before ducking behind a building to sit down and eat. She tucked in and kept an eye peeled for anyone suspicious.

Since she was finally out of danger (relatively speaking), Renna started to speculate about what she had seen as she had fled the scene earlier. A flash of steel, mere centimeters from her face. Then the sword was gone. And what she saw still seemed unbelievable. The marines’ swords and guns, along with some other junk, flying toward one of the guys fighting the Marines then blasting away from him. Was he the one they said was Captain Kid? 

The name sounded familiar, but she couldn't remember where from. As for what happened, it was most likely a devil fruit. Well, whoever he was and however it happened, he had inadvertently saved her from a sword in the face.  _ Well, here’s to hoping our paths don't cross again. But if they do, I guess I'll buy you a drink or something _ . 

It was long after midnight at this point, and the earliest passenger ships wouldn’t be leaving until six or seven in the morning. Time to find somewhere to sleep until morning.

Renna heard shouting, and fell back into the shadows until she realized that the shouting wasn’t coming from the street. Paying closer attention, she walked down a few buildings, and carefully peered into the alley. Standing there were a couple of hulking figures having a shout fest. Given that they weren’t very good at being quiet, she listened in.

“Damn it, how the hell did you get that busted up fighting marines?”

“It wasn’t the marines, it was debris flying around because of your new move.”

“Then it’s your own damn fault for getting in my way!”

Renna peeked around the corner. She stared hard at them, before realizing they were the chaps who had decided a Marine was a good demolition tool.

The alleyway was poorly illuminated by light coming in from the street, but Renna could see a tall spiky red-haired man, a man in a mask with glorious blonde hair, a man with dreadlocks and a corset vest, and a man with a large orange mohawk. The red-head was yelling at the Mask-Guy, who was pressing a blood-soaked cloth to his arm. Red-head looked ready to massacre the next thing that dared breathe in his direction, and Corset-vest was trying to check out Mask-Guy's arm. Mohawk was standing guard close to the entrance of the alley. Even with the limited lighting, Renna decided they all really had a really bad taste in fashion.

“He's going to need stitches,” Corset-vest commented, voice barely loud enough for Renna to hear.

“Yeah, no fuck. And where the hell are we going to get someone to do that?” Red-head turned, and Renna was able to see his face for the first time. Goggles against his hairline, paired with dark lipstick and eyeliner. 

Swords and guns flying. Renna finally remembered why the name Captain Kid had sounded familiar. He was that rookie with a screw loose that had recently entered and subsequently started wreaking havoc in Paradise! 

Renna squinted down the alley, considering her new discovery. She had the stuff to do stitches in her bag. But these guys weren't the friendliest of pirates, according to rumors and papers. Kid had saved her from a sword in the face. He likely didn’t realize it, and if she walked away now, he probably never would. But the stupid little voice in the back of her head wouldn't shut up.  _ You can help. You want to. Go do it. _

After fighting it out a little longer, Renna straightened up and walked into the alley.  _ Bloody hell, why am I like this!  _ The three men closest to her immediately tensed up as she approached. 

“What the hell do you want!” Kid yelled as she drew closer. When she didn’t stop, he pulled a knife and walked toward her. “You looking for a death sentence?” He growled. She could feel the hostility rolling, no, exploding off of Kid. Renna closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath.

“Our paths crossed briefly at the ring earlier. Your weird weapon flying trick saved me from a sword in the face.” His face switched from menacing to confused in a heartbeat. How had he not noticed half the marines taken out by the time he got there? “I have the tools to do stitches in my bag. I’ll stitch his arm up, we’ll part ways, and we never have to speak of today again.”

She strode past him as he processed what she said and pulled out a lighter, flicking it open when she reached Mask-Guy. She couldn't read his expression (no duh, mask!), but immediately began a mental assessment.

“What cut your arm? Also, has it been spurting blood, or just continuously leaking?” Renna set her lighter on a crate, her bag on the ground, and started pulling her supplies out. Fresh bandage, antiseptic, suture and needle, and ran the needle under the flame to disinfect it. After realizing she was a thousand percent serious, Mask-Guy finally answered. 

“Broken sword. It was slow at first, but began to spurt a few minutes ago.” He replied. It really threw her for a loop, not being able to see his face. Ignoring Kid yelling, Renna wondered what was under the mask as she rolled up her sleeves and threaded her needle.

“Barely missed the artery, but after exertion, barely tore the wall of the artery.” She murmured to herself as she examined the location of the laceration. It wasn't a major artery, so she wouldn't have to worry about him bleeding out. She’d just have to do a few deep sutures first before she could completely close the wound.

“Oi, Corset. Put some pressure on right here. Also, hold this up” Renna placed his hand where she needed it, handed him her lighter, and pulled the cloth away from the wound. Renna dodged a small spurt of blood and gave it a quick spray of antiseptic before starting. It was a clean wound with no ragged edges. About nine centimeters long, three or four deep, going from about the middle of his bicep up toward his deltoid. One, two, three, four sutures deep in the wound, then a set of running stitches to completely close the cut. She was slightly concerned that he did not flinch despite having any medicine on her to numb the pain. He either had balls of steel or had lost enough blood to be more than a bit out of it. Renna finished by cleaning it off and wrapping the wound up. The whole process only took a few minutes, record time for her. Renna cleaned off her hands, threw her stuff back in her bag, and stood up.

“This is where we part ways. Keep it clean, keep it dry, try not to strain it for a few days, and those stitches can come out in about two weeks.” She gave a mini salute and waltzed out of the alley before any of them could say anything.

–

“WHAT THE HELL?” Kid yelled. “WHO WAS THAT?” The weird girl had just come out of the blue, stitched up Killer’s arm, and left with no explanation. Who the hell did that?

“She said you saved her from a sword in the face in the fight a bit ago. Must have dragged the sword from a marine’s hand at the perfect moment.” Heat surmised, staring at the entrance of the alley that she had just passed through.

“I might be wrong, but I think she was the fighter that won the match just before the marines busted up the place,” Killer added, mask trained on the bandages now encompassing his arm. “Those were really good stitches.”

“Yeah, you lost a bit too much blood.” Heat concluded.

Kid simply yelled, before stomping off. Heat helped Killer up, and they all followed Kid back to the Victoria Punk. The log would be stored in a few hours anyway, and then they could move on to the next island.

–

"What do you mean all of the passenger ships are full?" Renna groaned, dropping her head on the counter. 

"Sorry ma'am, but we've been fully booked out for weeks." The man did not sound very sorry. Just exhausted. "There's a festival happening on Salkhad in a week, and this island is a major stop along the way. Perhaps you can charter passage on another ship." 

Renna muttered something along the lines of "Thanks" as she walked away. She hated trying to charter passage. There were too many variables at play. Well, at least she'd have time to go buy some shoes. Renna walked back up the pier into town and started looking for a store that'd have shoes. Even though it was early, the town was already bustling with foot traffic, which Renna used to her advantage. She had already avoided a couple of Marines by blending in with groups of pedestrians. Finally, she spotted a cobbler’s shop and headed in. Renna scoured the shop until she found a sturdy pair of boots in her size and purchased them.

Renna exited the building with her new boots on, sighing as she looked back in the direction of the docks. Any other time, she'd wait until she could take a passenger boat. But after the raid, it'd be best to get off the island as soon as possible.

Making her way back, she ran smack into someone as she rounded a corner. She looked up and started to apologize, but the words died in her mouth. It was the Marine who almost cut her face off the night before! What were the bloody chances? 

Recognition lit up his face, but she twisted and kicked him in the head before he said anything. Shouts came from behind him, and Renna took off cursing as his buddies ran after her.

Renna ran through the street, looking for somewhere she could disappear. Bright colors up ahead caught her eye. A trade market! The perfect place to get lost in the crowd. 

She vaulted over some kids who ran into her path and shoved past several indignant mothers as she closed in on the market. People leapt out her way as she charged, or at least those who saw her coming did. The entrance to the market was just meters away. Suddenly, three marines were in her way, rifles raised.

"Stop! You're under arrest for assaulting a marine officer!" Renna didn’t stop. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw another person charging toward them. Renna glanced their way, then looked back when she saw who it was. Mask-Guy? Were those swords attached to those weird gauntlets?  _ He better not rip her stitches out. _

Renna's attention flew back to the Marines, ready to fire. But then Mask-Guy was jumping, and he took down all three marines in her path. Renna ran past him and shoved into the already crowded marketplace. She wasn’t sure what Mask was up to, but she didn’t quite care at the moment. 

Weaving in and out of customers and merchants, she began to disappear. Pulling off her coat, tucking her hair into a ‘borrowed’ hat, carefully snagging a pair of glasses from a stall; all the basics for changing what the marines would be looking for. 

When a pair of marines ran past a small tea shop, talking about finding a blue-haired girl in a black coat, they didn't notice the girl in a maroon hat with glasses sipping tea.

Starting at their backs as they continued on, Renna considered her options. Now that the marines were looking for her specifically, it'd be really difficult to hang around the port long enough to charter passage.  _ Looks like it's time to play my favorite game; stowaway! _ Renna left a few coins on the table and headed back to the docks.

The Achaveans were going about their daily routines, conveniently blind to the bind she was in. Shoppers haggled with the stall owners for the best deal, merchants heralded praises for their wares, an art form in and of itself. Shepherds lead their sheep through the street with no regard for anyone in their path, and priests lead people back to whatever god they worshipped. Did they enjoy their mundane, stable lives? Probably, given they were still here living them. Renna jumped out of the way as a few kids ran by, one in a marine cap yelling for the 'pirate' to stop in the name of Justice. Renna smiled softly at their game. What sweet innocence.

Soon enough, Renna was back on the docks and started assessing her options. Passenger ships weren't too hard to sneak onto, plus they usually had more than enough food. But since there were so many people aboard, it was harder to avoid being seen the whole time or keep up the ruse that she was supposed to be there.

Of course, there were merchant ships available as well. While they were pretty easy to sneak aboard and hide, they were much more diligent about the amount of food going in and out. With a smaller number of people on board, it was much more readily noticed when more food disappeared than was supposed to.

And then there were pirates. Pirates were so bloody unpredictable, it was best not to deal with them unless they had a good and or reliable reputation (as good as a pirate’s reputation could be that is). For example, the Whitebeard Pirates: fairly reliable, not known for betrayal, all around a pretty good bet for passage, as long as you are okay with Whitebeard trying to adopt you into his family. On the other end of the pirate family spectrum was Big Mom. Basically, don’t get involved unless you want to end up married, dead, or both.

Sailors were bustling about the docks, loading and unloading wares, preparing ships for their journeys, and she was pretty sure she could see a few sailors racing some wild den-den mushi to pass the time. 

Then, a tall man with a mane of wild blonde hair flew past her, and she barely had time to register him as Mask-Guy before she saw several marines running up the pier. By the grace of some god, a large gust of wind knocked her hat clean off her head, sending her long blue hair billowing. She made eye contact with the marine closest to her. Blasted wind.

She broke into a run as the marine started yelling to not let them get away. She could see Mask-Guy just ahead of her on the pier, and that’s when she noticed  _ it _ . A ship with a massive yellow skull sheltering the bow, rib bones detailing the sides. Orange and black sails were adorned with flames, and their red-haired Jolly Roger served as the cherry to top it all off. Mask-Guy was clearly headed for the monstrosity. Of course, that was their ship. What else should she have expected from a bunch of pirates with such bad taste in clothing? But, it looked like they were about to set sail.

"OI, MASK!" Renna yelled, running even faster to catch up to him. His head turned, and he slowed down a tiny bit as Renna sprinted toward him.

"I was looking for you earlier." He replied calmly as she pulled alongside him.

"Excuse me? Blast it, nevermind, we’ll get to that later. Y'all take passengers?"

"You'd have to ask the captain."

"Can he deal with boarding now, asking later? 'Cause, you know." She jerked her thumb at the pack of soldiers behind them. The edge of the pier was quickly approaching, and the skull ship was already pulling away from the pier. They wouldn't be able to make it just by jumping, so she hoped he had some genius plan to get on board.

"Guess he'll have to. Hold on."

"What?" 

He wrapped his arm around her waist, and then they were rocketing over the water. Renna was screeching out curses that would have made her mother's ears bleed before they both crashed onto the deck. He released her waist and got up, unphased by the ordeal.

"Bloody fucking pirates." She cursed as she sat up, pulling her hair out of her face. A shadow loomed over her, and she looked up to see a scowling Captain Kid. She was quite sure he was in a permanently bad mood.

"Why the hell is she here? Damn it, Killer! Did you seriously run into town just to kidnap her?" He snapped at Mask-Guy as she stood up. Was his name seriously Killer, or was it a weird pirate nick-name?

"Didn't kidnap her." Killer clarified. "She's looking for passage."

"Does this look like a fucking passenger ship?" 

"Marine battleship approaching from nine o'clock!!" A voice yelled from the crow’s nest.

"I can pay or work." Renna's eyes flickered from Kid to the battleship in the distance. She furrowed her brow and tilted her head to the side. "Hey, they're readying their cannons. You gonna return fire or something?" She asked, ignoring whatever Kid was yelling about.

"It's too far away to see–"

"Cannons Captain!" The man in the crow’s nest yelled. "Can whatever it is wait a bit?"

“How the hell– No!” Kid snarled. “Get off my ship, brat!” 

“I'm a doctor.” Renna offered.

“And I’m a fucking marine!” Cannons boomed, and Renna saw cannonballs out of the corner of her eye. Kid raised his hand, and the cannonballs abruptly changed direction, launching back toward the marines.

“You know, I’ve no idea how you’ve survived this far into Paradise without a ship doctor.”

A crew member was yelling for Kid's attention but was duly ignored. “Who says we don’t have a doctor?” He growled. 

Renna jerked her thumb at Killer. “When mask over there got injured, you started talking about finding someone to patch him up, rather than looking for your ship doctor. It wasn’t a big jump.”

“MOSHI MOSHI! Marines hot on our tail!” Cannons boomed again, and once again, as soon as Kid raised his hand, the cannonballs were flying back the way they came. Renna started to piece together what his devil fruit power was.

"Don't move. We’ll finish this once I’ve taken care of the fucking pests." Kid growled at her and stomped off, yelling orders to the crew.

"Be right back," Killer told her, before running off to attend to his duties.

In the absence of Kid and Killer, Renna assessed her surroundings more thoroughly. The island was a good four kilometers away at this point, so if she did end up getting punted off the ship, it’d be a long swim back to shore assuming the marines didn’t get to her first.

As the crew rushed about the ship preparing to fight the marines, Renna carefully repositioned herself out of the way by the mainmast. The marines were now close enough that she could almost hear what they were saying over the roar of the waves.

Crew members were curiously glancing her way, but she didn't acknowledge any of them. The men not assisting with working navigation were ready for battle on the port side, shouting as the marines came into range.

"Best way to impress Master Kid is to show him you can handle yourself." She turned to see the man with the corset vest from the night before. He had tied his grey-green dreadlocks in a ponytail, swords drawn to fight. "If you really want passage, prove you won't be a liability." 

And with that, he was sprinting to clash with the Marines.

Well, it’d be a pain to have to swim back at this point. So, Renna pulled back her hair, set her bag down, and walked up to join the crew on the port side of the ship. Time to get to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Wow I can't believe I'm finally publishing something I've written! First, thank you to nicorobinreads and [laws-yellow-submarine](https://laws-yellow-submarine.tumblr.com) for previewing this. I've linked their tumblrs because I absolutely love their content! Another big thank you to laws-yellow-submarine for inspiring/encouraging me to go hog-wild with my ocs! (I adore Hazel and Skylar!) Also, a shout out to [razbliuto](%E2%80%9D) (ohpineapples) for writing such an amazing story! MNP is so captivating, it gave me so much motivation to write this out! I absolutely love Sophie, and can't wait to have her make a mini appearance! (Srry, but it won't be until Sabaody.)
> 
> Fun Facts: So, I originally made Renna's fighting name Midnight Flare, wanting to capture how all her opponents are going to see is a flash of her midnight blue hair. But, I've been attempting to learn some Japanese, and stumbled across the word kawaakari, and it was honestly perfect! It means moonlight, but more specifically, the reflection of moonlight on a river. Perfect, right? I love finding things like this. (I may or may not have another oc who's name is basically Peachy McPeach.)
> 
> Credit to Library of Ohara for their [One Piece Timeline](https://thelibraryofohara.com/the-one-piece-timeline/), which I used to help figure out my timeline, you are doing the work of god. Amen and Hallelujah.


	2. Height Issues and Terrible Fashion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Blood mentions?  
> (if there's something you need a warning for, you can absolutely let me know!)

Captain Kid vaulted himself onto the warship, and immediately marines were flying in all directions. His crew followed close behind, raucous battle cries filling the air. Renna found herself climbing to the upper deck, unable to help herself from finding the best vantage point for the battle. There on the gun deck, she found pirates fighting with marines that had dropped in from the warships rear deck.

A bald pirate was using a pair of hooked swords to disarm and dispatch several marines. While he did seem proficient with the swords, his footwork seemed a bit lacking. If he came against a master swordsman, he might have some difficulty. Another pirate with spiky hair was bludgeoning his opponents with a… nail-studded bat? Wincing at the bloody mess his victims were left in, she decided she would applaud him for if not elegance, effectiveness. A soldier that rushed at her was kicked across the deck without a side glance. The man with the bat was now removing the unconscious marine’s bandana for some unapparent reason. A trophy, perhaps? Another marine aimed his rifle at her only to find himself falling into the ocean moments later. Honestly, couldn’t she enjoy examining a good brawl?

Metal flashed in the corner of her eye, and Renna turned in time to see a marine get slammed with a weighted chain. The man wielding said chain was wearing an atrocious yellow outfit with a matching feathered hat. “A bit more to starboard,” He yelled, glancing at his Log Pose. Their course adjusted, but Renna couldn’t identify where the helm or the helmsman was.

“So what’s with you?” The man with the feathered hat asked. It took Renna a moment to realize the question was directed at her.

“Looking around,” Renna shrugged, slamming another marine into the deck. “I guess I’ll head over to the other ship before all the punching bags are gone.” She hoisted the marine she just downed and threw him at one of his comrades, sending them both flying overboard. Renna missed the look on the pirates’ faces as she ran and launched herself off the railing toward the other ship.

Renna tucked and rolled as she landed, marines swarming to her as she jumped to her feet. She sidestepped the first marine, grabbed him by the shirt, and threw him into someone else. A few well-placed kicks sent several more flying. One raised his rifle behind her, but she twisted, letting him shoot an ally instead. 

She found herself momentarily distracted as she smelled smoke. Pain erupted across her back, and she stumbled from the force of the blow. She turned and locked eyes with the one who had hit her, and he froze, staff in hand. Moments later, he joined his compatriots on the deck with a broken arm. 

Renna scanned the ship for the source of the smoke. And that’s when she saw Corset-Vest  _ breathing fire. _ He was setting the mainmast alight, and she saw Captain Kid rip the ship's wheel right off. It was definitely time for her to skedaddle.

She picked her way through the debris and bodies littered across the deck, headed back for the monstrosity of a ship. As she noticed Killer and Kid coming up behind her, she got the distinct impression Killer wanted to chat, and Kid wanted to chuck her overboard. 

And then she sensed killing intent, up high toward the bow.

No time to get rid of the attacker. 

They likely wouldn’t blindly trust her if she said duck. 

Well, there's more than one way to make a man move.

Renna turned to punch Killer and he barely caught her fist. He did not however anticipate her knee rising in rapid succession. With a strangled grunt he began to bend over, and she dragged him sideways, barely in time for a bullet to lodge itself in the deck at their feet. Kid threw his hand in the air and the gun wrenched itself from the soldier's grasp before flying back and knocking him to the deck.

“Sorry, quick decisions ‘n all.” Renna apologized to Killer, who was hunched over, hands on his knees. Sensing Kid coming at her from behind, she twisted out of the way, narrowly missing being grabbed.

Kid narrowed his eyes at her. “How the hell did you do that?”

“Magic. Can you just thank me and move along? The ship’s going down, and I’m quite sure you can’t swim.”

“You’re gonna answer the damn question, and if I get an answer I don’t like, you’re staying on the fucking boat.” She held eye contact with him as they glared at each other. Blast it, she did not have time for this crap.

"Haki. Since we're asking questions, why the hell were you looking for me?" She redirected her gaze on Killer. Kid snarled at her brief answer but didn’t ask for more yet. Apparently, he also wanted to know why his crewmate sought her out.

Killer (who’d finally managed to straighten up) reached into his back pocket and tossed something to her. She caught it and realized it was her lighter. She must've forgotten to take it back after stitching him up last night.

“Thanks.” She tucked it in her pocket. She doubted he’d been looking for her just to return her lighter, but decided not to press it quite yet. The ship was still sinking, and she was still on it. Stepping to the side, a piece of flaming lumber crashed into the deck where she’d just been standing. 

“Look, you did a lovely number on this ship, and I’m happy to discuss any questions you have for me. But I’d prefer to do it from a vessel that is not burning.” She looked pointedly at Kid. He glared at her a moment longer, then stormed off toward their ship. She took that as permission to come aboard and followed, Killer falling in step behind her.

She jumped back onto the pirate vessel with ease and leaned back against the mast while Kid barked some orders to the crew. Killer approached Kid and they walked away to talk. Renna watched them for a moment but turned to watch the pandemonium on the burning ship as it sank until all she could see was a small plume of smoke in the distance.

The sound of footsteps drew close to her. “That was impressive,” Renna turned to see the man with the Corset-vest again. “Your style completely changed from how you fought last night.”

She shrugged. “Each fight has its own needs. I simply match my opponent and the level of the fight.”

“The mark of a seasoned combatant.” His eyes locked onto something over her shoulder. She turned to Kid walking up to her. “Best of luck.” He murmured and backed up.

Kid stopped in front of her, and Killer stood a bit behind him. She had to tilt her head back quite a bit to meet his eye. What in the world had his momma fed him? “Explain what Haki is.” Kid demanded. If this was the price of not being hurled overboard, it was an easy one to pay.

“There are three types of Haki,” Renna held up three fingers to emphasize her point. “Busoshoku and Kenbunshoku are the two most common. There aren’t many users this side of Paradise, but considering how rare the ability is, there are a fair number of them in the New World.

“Busoshoku Haki allows you to make a sort of invisible armor. You can use it to coat not only your body but your weapons as well. Kenbunshoku Haki heightens your perception of others and the environment. Sensing others presence, intentions, emotions, and the like.”

“You use Kenbunshoku Haki?” Killer confirmed.

Renna nodded. “Predicting my opponent’s actions increases my reaction time, and how I can counter. Either of these two kinds can be learned, though it typically takes years of training. They can be learned unconsciously, but it doesn't frequently happen.”

“What’s the third kind?” Kid furrowed his brow, and Renna realized he didn’t have any eyebrows. What had happened to them?

“Haoshoku,” Renna shifted her eyes from his nonexistent eyebrows. Hopefully, she hadn’t stared too long. “This kind can’t be taught. You are either born with it, or you aren’t, and it’s the rarest of the three types. Haoshoku Haki allows you to exert your will over others. It takes a very strong spirit to withstand it. I’ve only heard of a handful or so of people who can use it.”

“What did ya mean by Paradise?” A teen with shoulder-length brown hair peeked around the mast. Renna wondered when he was going to pop out; he’d been there since Corset-Vest had come to talk to her.

“The affectionate name for the first half of the Grandline by those who have been to the second half, which is known as the New World.”

“Why Paradise?”

She smirked. “This hell hole ain’t nothing compared to the chaos that reigns on the other side of the Red Line. To the fools who take it lightly, this place truly is a paradise.”

“Have you been to the New World?” 

“A couple of times, but I usually stay here in Paradise. More consistent work here.”

“So where are you going?” Killer asked.

“For now, an open ring I heard of in Shal Kaar. Which brings up the topic of me as a passenger.” Renna turned back to Kid. “Look. I’m not asking you to protect me. I’m not asking you to escort me all the way to Shal Kaar. I’m an island hopper who can take care of herself. I can pay or work, and obviously, I can supply you with knowledge of the Grandline if you want it.”

“Where’s Shal Kaar?” Feathered hat called out from the upper deck.

“It’s the fourth island away by pose.” 

Kid scrutinized her with harsh eyes (and no eyebrows). Outwardly, he looked pissed, but she was starting to figure his nature was simply very abrasive.

“Alright, listen up brat. You’ll work as our doctor until we get to Salkhad.”

“Then we have an accord, Captain.” She stretched out her hand and after considering her gesture a moment, he grasped her hand hard enough to make her bones creak. His was covered in a lot of blood.

Kid noticed his crew watching their conversation. “GET YOUR ASSES IN GEAR! Killer, show the brat to the sickroom!” Renna rolled her eyes; It seemed he didn’t care to ask her name. Fine by her as long as he realized she wasn’t a kid. Just because she was of average height and everyone on his crew was ridiculously tall did not mean she was a child.

Renna grabbed her bag and checked it to see if anything had been plundered. Satisfied that nothing had disappeared, she fell in step behind Killer as he led her below deck.

“I never caught your name, unless it is Kawaakari.” 

“Hard to catch something that hasn’t been thrown.” He didn’t laugh, though she thought she heard a soft half snort. “Renna.” He nodded and began showing her around the ship. Renna was appreciative that he didn’t press for a full name. Made sense, coming from a chap called Killer.

As they walked, he pointed out the galley and Kid’s workshop. (“Avoid going in unless absolutely necessary,” he instructed.) All the crew's cabins were above deck, except for one of the cooks, who apparently preferred sleeping in the galley. The small tour ended below deck when Killer led her into their infirmary. A few cabinets lined the wall to her right, and an examining table stood to her left. A few spare cots were strapped to the ceiling above the table and a few crates were set against the far wall. Next to the examining table, there was also a crudely assembled upright frame with chains on the corners. From the dark stains on it and the floor, she could only assume it was some sort of homemade torture table. On another table next to it were several bloody tools, both surgical and not.

"Bandages, medicine, surgical tools,” he gestured to the cabinets and crates. “Obviously not a hospital, but the bases are covered." Crossing the room, he pulled aside a curtain obscured from view by the cabinets. “This is where we usually have someone sleep if they’re really sick, but it can be your room for now.”

Renna chewed on her lip as she examined the small closet. Hammock in the corner, a small table, and a crate of dirty rags filled the limited space. 

“Cozy. Do you have cleaning supplies I can use?”

“Probably. I’ll have someone bring some and have them help you. Haven’t quite gotten the blood cleaned up from last week.” They simultaneously eyed the bloody frame.

“That’d be appreciated. Also, before you go, let me check those stitches.” She pointed at the table as she procured a new bandage from her bag. When she looked up, he hadn’t moved. Renna let out a small huff. “Come on, it’ll just take a moment.”

She could practically feel him rolling his eyes, but he sat down and held his arm out for her. She unraveled the bandage, wrinkling her nose when she finally removed it. “I said try not to strain it for a few days.” She griped, seeing how a few of the stitches had nearly torn through the flesh. She wiped away the dried blood with some antiseptic. 

“Just a couple of days without doing anything too crazy is all I’m asking.” She muttered, mostly to herself. She finished rewrapping the wound and stepped back. “There. All done.” She picked her bag up and went to put it in her room.

“Thanks.” Renna paused, but by the time she’d turned around, he had already disappeared around the corner.

“You’re welcome.” 

After watching the empty doorway for a minute, she entered what would be her living quarters for the rest of the voyage. She hefted the crate of dirty rags and dropped them out into the main infirmary. Examining the hammock, she decided it was also in sore need of a good cleaning. It took several minutes to untie the hammock (the knots were almost too high to reach), but she was eventually successful in her efforts.

"Knock knock!" A man she recognized as the one with the nail-studded bat poked his head in the door. "Here to help ya clean doc!" He held up a crate of cleaning supplies.

"Thanks. I'll have you start with the… that." She gestured vaguely to the bloody torture apparatus. She had no idea what to call it.

"And what do you want me to do?" The same face poked in the doorway again, so there were now two of the same face looking at her. Devil fruit ability or twins? Considering a moment, she decided to go with twins.

"I'll have you start with the tools on the table. If you could wash and sterilize them, please."

"You got it." The second one ran off to get water presumably, and the first dropped the crate in front of her. The contents included a few types of soap, rags, and brushes. Renna decided to start by emptying the cabinets: first, to clean them out, and second, to take note of what she had to work with.

“Here, I brought some water!” The second one barged in with a pot of steaming water and proceeded to dump the soap into the water. A furious stomping from somewhere above grew in volume until an older man with curly brown hair burst through the door, completely red in the face.

“MAYS! Gimme my pot back you damn gremlin!”

Mays laughed with a very pointy grin. “You said I could take this water!” A bucket nailed him in the forehead, though it only temporarily wiped the grin from his face.

“I said dump it in a bucket, baka! That’s my good pot!” Mays poured the soapy water into the bucket and the man grouched off with his pot. The twins cackled as he disappeared. Renna couldn’t help but crack a small smile, their merriment infectious. Dipping a clean rag in the water, she began scrubbing down the cabinets inside and out. She ended up knocking a lot of dust to the floor as she went.

“Would one of you be able to locate a broom?” The one that did not have a bright red mark in the center of his head volunteered to go look for one, claiming he’d seen one lying around recently.

“So was it you or your brother I saw stealing that marines bandana?” She hadn’t been able to notice any physical traits that separated them yet, besides the new bump on the forehead of Mays.

“That was me. Already noticing me in the heat of battle are we?” He waggled his eyebrows at her, which went completely unnoticed. She was frowning at the top shelf, which she was not tall enough to reach on her own. Perhaps she could flip the crate containing the cleaning supplies to use as a stool?

She pulled all of the contents from the crate and carried it over to where she was working. Standing upon it, she could now see fully the top shelf, in all of its dusty, grimy glory. At the back was a dead mouse. That was so unsanitary! “Any reason why you took his bandana?” 

“I collect ‘em, but my favorites are the ones I nab from marines.”

Renna grabbed a dirty rag and used it to pull out the dead mouse. She set it next to the crate of dirty rags to dispose of it later. “Big collection?”

“With the ones I got today, I’ve got three-hundred-eighty-seven.”

Renna paused, bemused. That was  _ a lot _ of scarves. “What do you do with all of them?”

“Hang up my favorites. The rest, Beck and I make into blankets.” 

“Aww, you talking about me?” The other twin who she assumed was Beck returned, broom held up triumphantly. “Look, I found it! It was with the staves in the armory.”

“OH YEAH! It was there from sparring last week, wasn’t it?” As the twins exchanged banter, Renna let her focus drift to checking the dates on all the medicines, those that were labeled at least. She couldn’t really discern any clear organization, so she began to sort them by type and strength. Those she couldn’t immediately identify were set to the side for later.

All the bandages seemed clean, but she decided it would best to reclean them considering the dead mouse she found. She threw some of the rags onto the quickly growing pile of laundry.

“Man, your fight last night was epic!” Beck gushed. “When you flipped her over your head–”

“Aaah but that round kick to the chest–” Mays countered.

“Don’t forget the final neck lock!”

Renna smiled. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“Killer said your name was Renna, right?” Renna hummed, eyeing the cobwebs hanging from the ceiling around the edges.

“How long have you been fighting?”

“For work? Since I was eighteen.” Grabbing the broom, she used it to catch the web strands.

“Can we spar with you later?”

"Why not. Oh, really?" She sighed, feeling a familiar wet heat in her nose. She pinched it and raised her hand just in time to catch a few drops of blood.

"Woah, you good?" Beck asked, seeing the blood.

Renna waved him off and wiped her hand clean. "Happens all the time. Are you finished washing those?" She asked Mays.

"Yup!" He leaned back to show off all the now cleaned tools.

"Then I'll have you sterilize them. Just have the cook steam them for at least fifteen minutes, and then lay them out to dry. And make sure your hands are clean before you touch them again."

"Then after that are we done?" They asked in unison. Renna nodded.

"Sure. Thanks for the help." Whooping rather loudly, they gathered up the tools and scampered off, leaving her alone in the semi-cleaner infirmary.

Renna carefully unpinched her nose to see if the bleeding had stopped. When blood didn't stream out, she wiped her nose off and added the bloody rag to the pile. Dry desert islands were the bane of her existence; the lack of humidity only aggravating her chronic bloody noses.

Renna finished sweeping the room, pushing the pile of dust into the corridor and carefully redistributing it in the corners. Not her ship, not her problem. As long as her workspace was clean, she could let them do whatever the hell they wanted.

Re-examining the room, she made a quick list of things needing to be done: wash the laundry, identify the remaining medicines, finish scrubbing everything down, and check the crates for their contents. The last thing she needed was another dead rodent decomposing in what was supposed to be a sanitary space.

As she began to scrub the rags in the remaining water, she let her Haki flow outward, feeling, or as she’d personally describe it, listening to the crew's natures. Honestly, not the worst she’d heard from pirates, but they definitely belonged to pirates. There were seventeen in total, their natures came to her like melodies in a symphony: slightly discordant, but somehow in harmony. But from what she could hear, she could handle traveling with them. None of them seemed to carry the melody she despised, and that was all she could ask for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: HECK YEAAA CHAPTER TWO!!!! I'm super happy to be getting this done! I thought I wasn't going to be able to publish it until late April, but hey! All my performances for March and April got cancelled, and suddenly I had time! (Slightly bitter, but staying safe and healthy is important!)  
> Imma do a quick shout out to one of my favorite fics I'm reading rn, which is [Pars Una](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22660549/chapters/54161782). I love Minerva, and her dynamic with Kid and the kid pirates! i lof


	3. What Marines Are Good For, Or How To Get The Most Out Of A Marine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Semi-graphic descriptions of injuries toward the end of the chapter. If that disturbs you, well, I don't know what to tell you except that I've got painful plans for the future.

Killer squinted at his inventory list. “Oi, Harvey. Where’d the last of that rice go?” The barrel-chested man frowned at the barrels he could see and disappeared between stacks of crates. Killer scanned the rest of the list, to make sure everything else was correct. It would take a while to organize the loot they’d acquired while in Achave, so he’d save it for later. Getting their supplies logged had taken the better part of the day, and he was ready to take a break.

Harvey reappeared with the barrel resting over his shoulder. He carefully placed it with the rest of the rice and Killer finished checking off his list. A low rumble slowly took over the ship; time for dinner.

“We'll finish up tomorrow.” He nodded and the trudge of Harvey’s boots faded up the stairs as Killer stowed the inventory book away. Killer remembered to stop by their sickbay (more like a torture bay in all honesty) to make sure their guest got to dinner. The room was vacant when he arrived, but he was impressed with how much cleaner it was. The bloodstains on the floor were considerably less noticeable and most of the age-old grime was gone. A rope had also been strung between the spare cots on the ceiling and the upright torture table to hang rags and bandages to dry. A clever solution that didn’t require bothering the crew and still let her get some work done. Renna had certainly gone above and beyond expectations already. After a quick final check for her in the smaller room, Killer assumed someone else had brought her up for dinner. 

As Killer made his way up to the mess hall, he could hear the usual rowdiness in full swing; hopefully whoever had brought Renna up had warned her about the anarchy that was meal time before releasing her amidst the beasts. When he pushed the doors open, nothing about the scene before him was in the least bit surprising. Kid was stuffing his face with an impossible amount of food whilst Wells whacked Beck with a ladle for attempting to pilfer his pockets. Even if Killer tried, he couldn’t hear what Tsuneo and Kurosuke were arguing about over the loud card game in the corner, but if he had to guess, it was probably about the loud yellow outfit Tsuneo was wearing. He eventually spotted the end of Renna’s blue ponytail wedged between Rascal and Wire as she filled a plate. It’s not that she was _that_ short, but compared to the crew, she was just plain tiny. And of course, Rascal was trying to ease his arm around her shoulder. Killer was about ready to stab the punk; he had clearly instructed them to respect her personal space while she was on board. Yet before he could react, there was a blur of motion followed by a loud slam and she had Rascal pinned to the ground, his arm twisted into a painful lock. The room quieted as they realized who’d thrown him except for Rascal himself who was yelping and squirming in her grasp.

"Oh, I’d hold still unless you want to break something. I just want to make something very clear to you, _sweetheart,_ " she growled as she twisted the ginger’s arm further into the awkward position. He yelled and started slapping the ground quickly, but she ignored his attempt to tap out. "Don't touch me without my permission. Call me any cutesy names and I _will_ break your jaw. My name is Renna, and the only nickname I'll accept around here is Doc. Capiche?" She pushed his arm further to emphasize her point.

"YES! YES I GOT IT LETGOLETGOLETGOLETGO–" Renna released her hold on him and he slumped forward rubbing his shoulder. The twins were doubled over with laughter as Renna coolly picked up her overflowing plate and found an empty seat. The volume rose back to normal as everyone returned to their usual nonsense. His eyes flickered over to gauge Kid’s reaction, but Kid had already resumed his meal. It wasn’t the first time Rascal had been given a sound beating for being stupid. Well, at least she knew how to set and enforce her own boundary. As long as she didn’t challenge Kid’s authority, there wouldn’t be any big problems.

"Killer!" He turned to see Kurosuke holding up a large plate of pasta for him. He took the plate with a nod of thanks and seated himself between Heat and Kid. Kid was trying to tell him something (though he couldn’t understand a word of it for all the food stuffed in his mouth) so he instead watched Renna who was being told a story by the twins. Bolt and Mikio had also joined them, though they seemed caught up in their own conversation.

Renna turned and locked eyes with him, or would have if he wasn’t wearing his mask. Did she realize he was watching her? Was this an example of the Kenbunshoku Haki she mentioned? Perhaps she was just wondering if he ever removed his mask. (The answer was no, never.) She eventually turned back to her food and –holy shit did she eat all of that?– retorted to one of the twins. Everyone around her erupted into laughter as she sipped her drink. The way that the twin in question got all indignant suggested he just got roasted worse than when Kid tried to cook.

A sudden slap to his back caused him to choke on his food, and he hacked violently as Kid, Heat, and Wire laughed at him. “You’re already wrapped around her finger, aren’t ya?” Heat needled. Killer settled for punching Heat right out of his seat and sipped his beer through his signature straw to help calm his coughing.

"I asked how you ended up bringing her along since you barely explained it to Kid." Wire repeated as Heat dropped himself back into his chair. Killer leaned back in his seat.

“It’s like I told Kid earlier, I happened to see her on the docks and decided to thank her for stitching up my arm and return her lighter.”

“So how the hell did that end in you offering her a ride?”

“I didn’t offer her a ride. I lost her for a bit and by the time I made it to the pier, she was there also being pursued. She asked me if we take passengers. I just told her that would be up to Kid.” 

“Why was she being chased by the marines? Was it because of last night’s raid?” Heat asked.

“I think it was mostly that she round-housed a marine in the head this morning.” 

Kid snorted into his drink. “That shorty’s tall enough to knock a marine upside the head?”

“I saw her bump into him as he rounded a corner. They made eye contact and then he was being plastered into the building and she took off. I lost her in the market and that's when I ran into those damn monks. Had to head back to the ship and then there she was behind me being chased by the marines too. You know the rest."

"Killer thinks this would be a good opportunity to try having a ship doctor. Like we haven't been fine without one." Kid grouched and tore off a massive chunk of meat with his teeth, scarfing it down in record time.

"Do I need to remind you what happened in Lumi Jää, Kid?" Kid choked on his mouthful at Killer’s words while Heat and Wire groaned at the mention of the first Grand Line island they visited.

"What a fucking nightmare." Wire winced and beat Kid on the back until he coughed up the half masticated chunk of pork. A few smaller pieces flew into Heat’s hair who threw a blob of potatoes at their captain in response. "I thought we agreed to never mention that shit again."

Kid’s grimace morphed into a devilish grin as he caught his breath. "So the fact you think she's hot has nothing to do with it." 

“No, it doesn’t, Kid.” Killer sighed. “She’s got the medical skill and has been in the Grand Line longer than we have. That’s reason enough to have an exchange of services.” He could tell from their expressions they didn’t believe him for a second. But what could he help it if the first doctor they met outside of a clinic who was willing to travel with them also happened to be an attractive woman who could potentially beat the shit out of him?

“Sure, sure, whatever you say. Let’s see her prove her metal then. OI BRAT!” She looked up at him with a flicker of annoyance in her expression, but she lightly stalked over to them.

“I have a name, boor.” 

“I don’t give a shit.” Kid retorted. (Killer somehow doubted Kid knew what boor meant.)

Renna folded her arms as she settled her weight onto one leg. “You need something?”

“How long have you been in the Grand Line?”

Her eyes lost focus for a moment as she counted in her head. “Three, nearly four years.”

“What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen in the Grand Line?”

“Besides your ship?” She raised her eyebrow. A small flash of fire was the only indication that Heat was chuckling while Wire coughed heavily to disguise his laugh. Killer saw a vein throb on Kids forehead and placed a hand on his shoulder. More outright laughs erupted from the table Renna had just vacated and Killer was torn between thinking Kid deserved it for being an ass and defending his friend. Kid had put a lot of input into the design of the ship when they took over a shipyard back when they first formed their crew. But damn, he did agree that the color scheme was quite something. 

“I’ve seen my fair share of odd occurrences,” she continued, “but watching a ship sail upside down just under the surface of the ocean whilst being chased by flying pink narwhals was quite something.”

Kid, Killer, Heat, and Wire were all shocked into silence as they formulated that image in their head. “How the fuck does that work?” Heat recovered first.

“It happened near an island about halfway through the New World. The physics are a bit wonky in the climate zone right there.” The way Renna said it so nonchalantly made it seem as if she was talking about a piece of wood floating rather than having gravity flipped on its axis.

“So what do you know about the island we’re going to?” Killer cut that topic off, not wanting to get too sidetracked.

“Salkhad? What do you want to know?”

“How about the local military and marine activity–” “What’s the most valuable thing–” Killer and Kid spoke at once. Renna reached behind her for a vacant stool and settled down at the table. 

“Well–”

“Hey, we’re headed for lookout duty!” Beck interrupted as he tugged Azami along with him. “Renna’s a real riot, ain’t she Captain! Night bastards!” He called over his shoulder as he dragged their newest recruit along, much like you would a cat on a leash. Killer narrowed his eyes as he disappeared; just what was that imp up to now?

Wire leapt from his seat swatting at his shirt. A few dance moves later, he threw a dead mouse on the table and stormed out of the mess hall after Beck. The table where Beck had been sitting was roaring with laughter and Renna let out a soft half-snort. _Show off._ But Killer hadn’t even seen him do it, so he couldn’t deny his skill.

Killer slurped down some noodles as they waited for Wire to return. There were a few distressed yells followed by several loud thumps, but it wasn’t anything he was concerned about. He noticed Renna watching him again. “Problem?”

“No, you just kinda got something,” she gestured to her face as a whole as an example “...here.” He wondered if she was referring to the mask or the spaghetti sauce all over it. He noticed her eyes flick to the doorway where Wire entered a moment later. Was that her Haki again? He’d have to ask her more about it later. As soon as Wire was seated she began.

“Salkhad is a summer island about three to five days' sail from Achave. It has only a thirty-hour log set, and until about seven years ago was a neutral nation. The local government decided they were done dealing with their warring factions and brought in the World Government. Tension is still pretty high from what I hear, but the citizens can at least safely leave their houses now.

“While there are typically at least _some_ marines there, there isn’t an official base since there are two within a few day’s sail. Assuming we arrive on schedule at Salkhad, it’ll be right as they’re beginning their biggest festival of the year. I’ve heard the temple at the capitol is quite the sight to see. The festival is renowned throughout the Grand Line, which is why I was unable to secure passage the normal way.”

“You could’ve just stowed away.” Heat suggested.

Renna shrugged. “I didn’t have enough time to be stealthy about it.”

“Because you kicked that marine in the head?” Renna blinked as Killer slurped up some noodles.

“You saw that?” Killer nodded, mouth full of spaghetti. She folded her arms and shrugged. “He recognized me from the raid last night. Couldn’t be helped.”

Killer set down his fork. “Where did you disappear in the market, and when did you get back to the docks?”

“You just have to change the basics of what they're looking for. And for the record, I was already on the pier when you showed up with your friends. You ran right past me.” Killer recalled that her outfit had slightly changed from the market to when he saw her on the pier. Had he really fallen for something so simple?

Some loud shouting from the deck interrupted their conversation and Azami burst through the door. 

“Ship spotted just off starboard about eight kilometers out. It’s too dark to tell their insignia yet.”

Kid grinned darkly at the news. “Gear up boys. We’re gonna have us some fun.” Renna took the opportunity to leave the table and took her dishes to the kitchen.

“Oi, Killer. Tell that brat to stay out of our way during the fight, then let’s test _it_ out.”

“You got it, Kid.” The crew was already jumping into action, and Kid left to prepare for the impromptu test run. Killer picked up his plate and followed after Renna into the kitchen. She had started washing the discarded dishes from preparing the meal, her own dishes added to the pile. “Kid says you can hang back during this fight.”

“I heard your captain. He isn’t exactly the quietest gull in the harbor.” Renna said matter-of-factly as she removed the plate from his hand and added it to the pile. She didn’t betray any bitterness in her voice, so if she was bothered by Kid’s behavior, he couldn’t tell.

Killer folded his arms and lightly leaned against the wall. “Kid has a certain way of doing things. However, I would like you to prepare to treat any injuries that could happen. We’re going to be testing out a new weapon.”

“What type of injury should I be ready for?”

“Honestly, be ready for anything. The last time an experiment went wrong, we thought we’d be treating cuts and ended up treating burns more than anything. They’ve gotten better with practice, but Heat still keeps plenty of burn cream handy just in case.”

Killer began to leave but stopped. He needed to address what happened at dinner. “Renna.”

“Yes?”

“If any of the men do anything that bothers you, tell me so I can properly discipline them. Even if it’s Kid.” The sound of sloshing water stopped as she stilled. After a moment, she turned to look at him, eyebrows creased, unspoken confusion on her face. “I already gave the men orders to respect your space, so I will be punishing Rascal for his behavior.”

“I– I will.” She began to turn back to the dishes but stopped again. “Thank you.”

Killer turned to leave but considered asking her more about the Haki. Of course, he didn’t exactly have a lot of uninterrupted time to ask.

“Killer. Mays and Beck did ask if they could spar with me later. It’s not a problem for me,” she assured him, “I want to make sure it wouldn’t cause a problem if I did.”

“As long as everyone is on the same page, I don’t care.” He’d keep an eye on it for sure though.

“I enjoy sparring with– dammit!– not again.” She leaned forward and pinched her nose, and he saw a few drops of crimson catch in her hand. Did she just get a bloody nose? From what? “Sorry, I get bloody noses a lot, especially around dry islands. Excuse me.” And with that, she quickly exited the galley. An old trope came to mind, but Killer dismissed it just as quickly. It wasn’t one to be taken seriously. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw orange hair pass by the doorway.

“Rascal! Get your SORRY ASS IN HERE AND CLEAN THESE DISHES!”

–

Renna dried her nose and gave it a few test sniffs to see if it was done bleeding. This one had lasted much longer than the one earlier, nearly twenty minutes. Still nowhere near her record, but she’d have to take extra care to stay hydrated.

As they’d gotten closer to reaching the pirates' prey, feelings of anticipation and excitement had grown stronger and stronger until she was sure it was palpable to even non-haki users. Perhaps the other ship was close enough now she could reach it now. She let her haki slide out further and searched until she detected feelings of dread and resignation. Poor blokes. She doubted it would be a great experience to be experimented on by anyone, let alone the Kid Pirates, but there wasn’t much she could or was willing to do about it. She reigned her haki back in again until it just covered the ship and got to work.

Renna pulled a pouch she’d found in a cabinet and, taking Killer's recommendation to heart, prepped a trauma kit with what supplies she could find. Bandage and gauze, antiseptic and suture kit, and for good measure her utility knife, and fastened the pouch securely to herself.

As she exited the sickbay, (more frequently used as a torture dungeon as far as she could tell) she saw– oh bugger what was his name? Harley? Harvard? Harvey! –hefting a pair of barrels up the stairs.

“Do you know what kind of ship was spotted yet?” She followed him up the stairs to the main deck. 

“Marine.”

Interesting. From the emotions reigning on their ship, she would have assumed it was a passenger or merchant ship. She wanted to ask the navigator how long until they caught up with the marines but paused when she heard Kid's voice coming from the helm. He might be obnoxious, but she figured she'd probably annoyed him enough for today. No need to go for an unnecessary swim; she’d just have to ask someone else if they knew.

Renna turned her attention to the nearest crew members, whom Mays and Beck had introduced her to at dinner. Mikio was the youngest member of the Kid Pirates at seventeen years old and was the one who’d asked her about Paradise and the New World earlier that day. Bolt she’d learned was mute, and as he signed with Mikio, Mikio would respond half verbally half in sign language. Unfortunately, she didn't know any sign language, but it made for an interesting conversation to listen to.

She and Bolt made eye contact and he signed something to Mikio who turned and called out to her. "Oh, Renna! Bolt has a question for you! He wants to know how you use your Haki for something like this?"

"Well, I can get a basic read on how my opponents may react based on their emotional state. This isn't a fully manned battleship; probably a supply ship or information relayers. Given their anxiety, they aren’t looking forward to clashing with you."

Bolt made another motion, opening his hand as he moved it up and out slightly.

"How many?" Mikio relayed.

"Hmm.. around seventy? The strongest is about…" Renna felt around the deck to determine who was the closest. ‘As strong as whoever’s on the helm currently."

"As strong as Wire! How can you tell?" Mikio bounced around as if it would be dangerous to stop moving. Did he have to pee, or was he just plain energetic? 

"It’s a bit hard to explain." Renna didn’t really like trying to explain such abstract concepts. Something about people’s presence just sang to her, and she knew who was stronger.

"You can gauge your opponent's strength?" Killer strolled down the stairs to join them from the gunner’s deck.

"Yeah."

"Who’s the strongest on board!" Mikio asked, eyes shining. Bolt made a motion of crossing his arms while he shook his head. She might not know sign language, but that was a pretty clear ‘don't’. She also got the impression from Killer to be careful with her answer as well. She realized Kid had gone quiet at the helm and was listening in.

"While I can get a sense of physical strength, it doesn’t really matter until I can see how they apply it. If you have a cat versus a bird, it doesn’t matter how big or strong the cat is if the bird can outmaneuver the cat.”

"Makes sense." Killer seemed to let out a breath of relief at her indirect answer.

“So who do you think is the strongest out of my crew?” Kid suddenly appeared in front of her; apparently, he could be surprisingly light-footed when he wanted to be. Renna looked him in the eye as Killer swore under his breath. Everyone who had heard the current conversation had gone stiller than when she’d thrown Rascal at dinner. But she firmly held his fiery gaze.

“I’d say you.” Well, he nearly was, but to her, something about Killer came across as more dangerous in a different way. But she recognized Kid was making his point that _he_ was in charge. She wasn’t really one to feed anyone’s pride, but when traveling alone in the Grand Line, it was quite the delicate balance of letting others know you aren’t a doormat without bruising their ego too much either.

Kid smirked at her answer. “Damn straight. Now fuck off, brat.” As soon as he was gone from the main deck, a collective sigh of relief was released and she even saw the navigator’s hat fall off as he slumped against the railing. 

“I’ll keep an eye out from the crow’s nest,” Renna told Killer and scaled up the shrouds. “Coming in!” She called as she approached the top, and she saw Beck peek over the edge at her. 

“Hey, Renna!” He grinned and opened a hatch in the floor for her to climb through. “Nice save with the Captain there!” She narrowed her eyes at him as she lifted herself inside. He looked like he had the beginnings of a black eye for messing with Wire earlier. He deserved it for being a show-off, though she was impressed that he’d done it without her noticing the pass off. But still… 

“Put a cold compress on that once you’re off lookout duty. If you have problems with its vision later, tell me.” She instructed as she settled against one of the walls. For how ramshackle the structure looked, it felt pretty sturdy. Renna scanned the horizon for the ship and reached out with her haki again.

“That way,” Beck pointed out the distant marine vessel for her. How he could see it with the fading light was beyond her. “We should catch up in the next hour or two.”

“That’s assuming the wind and waves stay in our favor.” She grumbled and knocked her knuckles against the floor. She knew too well the unfavorable temperament of the Grand Line; how a lovely tailwind could turn into a cyclone at the drop of a hat. A healthy amount of respect and humility along with grit and a bit of psychosis were required to navigate this ocean. “Do you happen to know anything about this weapon your Captain is going to be testing?”

Beck’s jaw dropped. “He’s testing it _now_?”

“That’s what Killer said.”

“Sorry, I don’t know what it’s gonna be this time. All I know is that Kid keeps accidentally setting the ship on fire whenever he works on it. Though it’s been almost a week since we’ve had a fire, so maybe it’s nearly finished.” Renna frowned as she considered what she’d gotten herself into. Perhaps she should have just offered to pay for passage. Well, at least the voyage was a shorter one this time around. She didn’t know how long she’d last against such a high-spirited crew.

Renna let Beck ramble on as she mostly listened to the marines as they descended upon them. Anxiety grew with every passing minute and gloom was settling over them. She had to eventually pull back as the emotion began to affect her own mood. As the crew dashed around below preparing for the raid, she began running scenarios in her mind of what procedures she might have to do. Standard weaponry for marine soldiers would include swords, guns, maybe some axes, and a few staves, with a few outliers. Renna walked herself through what types of injuries could be inflicted by each and how to best treat them.

_BOOOM!_

Renna jolted at the sudden cannon fire. Had it already been an hour? She carefully scanned the scenery beneath her. The marine ship was now close enough that she could almost understand their yells above the roaring waves. But which side had fired first? The marines were scrambling across the deck to return fire but appeared untouched. She and Beck peered over the edge to see a thick plume of smoke coming from the gunner’s deck, from which Kid emerged coughing and cursing with his large coat lightly smoldering. Perhaps that was why he had no eyebrows, he kept singeing them off? Killer emerged from the smoke too and made a quick motion of closing some fingers on one hand then stabbing his index fingers inward.

“No one got hurt.” Beck relayed to her. “We’ve all learned a bit of sign language with Bolt and Mikio around. Pretty useful actually.”

The portion of the crew on cannons hastened to fire a new volley, and soon the air was filled with bright flashes of cannon fire. Any cannonballs that appeared to be on course to hit the Victoria Punk were deflected with a shout of “Repel!” from Kid. As soon as they were close enough to board, the pirates launched themselves onto the marine’s deck and began the slaughter. Blood spilled, limbs flew, and many bodies got thrown overboard as the pirates had their fun. In less than ten minutes, all of the marines were dead save for a handful of officers that Kid and Killer were now interrogating. The rest of the crew were looting the ship for anything they might find useful.

“I’m going to head down and check over everyone.” She told Beck and headed back down to the main deck. She took note of every injury she noticed no matter how minor and started ordering them in her head of what would need to come first. Nothing serious she could see so far, but she still had to check those still on board the marine ship. Renna carefully leapt over a half headless soldier as she stepped aboard the other ship.

“It’s a smaller crew than normal like she said. It appears as if they were making a supply run.” She heard Killer remark from a higher deck. Renna followed their voices up the stairs to see Kid holding a knife to the chin of an officer kneeling before him, two bodies collapsed on either side of him. She recognized the insignia on their coats as an ensign and rear admiral. The officer still kneeling was a captain.

“So where were you rats scurrying off to this time?” 

“As if I'd tell you bastards,” He boldly retorted. A flash of steel and one scream later, the knife was embedded in the captain’s shoulder. 

“Shit, my aim was off,” Kid summoned the dagger back to his hand and took aim again. “One more time; where are you going?”

The marine captain tried to take deep steadying breaths as he held his chin high. “FLINT-KUN!” A shatter of glass came from the other end of the deck, and the captain's body hit the deck moments later. Rascal dragged out a Marine that had been missed in the massacre and threw him at Kids feet. Heat picked up the shattered remains and brought them over to Kid and Killer. Renna recognized it as an eternal pose and wondered if they had seen one yet.

“It says G-14. They were headed to a base,” Heat surmised. “It can’t be too far given the ship and crew size. Odd that they don’t have an escort though.”

“They were likely trying to avoid any unnecessary attention, or the escort ship was called to deal with another problem,” Renna spoke up. “But G-14 is a very small station, just used to relay information. It’s notoriously difficult to get to, but that wasn’t the only pose to get there.” The marine who’d been dragged out lost all the color in his face at her words.

“The hell’s that supposed to mean?” Kid growled at her.

“In case of emergencies, another eternal pose is purposely mislabeled so it won’t fall into the wrong hands. Since... Flint was it? Was so quick to smash the pose, I’m guessing he knows which pose it is that’s needed.”

“Th-that’s supposed to be a military secret!” He finally found his words as he looked up at her horrified.

“Lesson for the future: don’t admit something like that. But don’t worry kiddo, it wasn’t you who had a slip of the tongue. Now, why don’t you show the nasty pirates which pose they need to get to your base. Captain Kid isn’t a very patient person if you couldn’t tell.”

Heat and the brightly dressed navigator appeared behind the dismayed marine and dragged him off to the marine’s navigation room to have a good chat.

“Nasty pirates?” Killer removed his scythes from his gauntlets and replaced them in their sheathe at his hip.

“You're the ones who smell awful.” Killer didn’t argue with that, so he must’ve agreed to an extent.

“So how'd you know about that military secret?” Kid frowned at her. Bloody hell, the last thing she needed him thinking was that she was with the marines. It should’ve been obvious she wasn’t since the marines had chased her just as enthusiastically as they had chased the pirates. But, there were too many instances of marines going undercover as criminals for her to dismiss any assumptions as unfounded. How should she answer this? Carefully, obviously. 

“A friend of mine who used to work with the marines informed me.”

“And what would your interest in helping us get to the base be?” Killer joined in. Fuck, not him too!

“I’d like to check up on said friend since I haven’t heard anything about them in several months. If anyone has information on their whereabouts, it’d be the marines or the Revolutionaries. I doubt the Revolutionaries would take kindly to my asking, so if there’s an opportunity to break into a marine base, I’ll take it.”

“Who’s your friend?”

Renna considered a moment. Would it put her in danger? Likely not, and even if it did, her friend had many advantageous allies. A small name drop to some rookies would probably be alright. “Haven.”

“Why would the marines have information on your friend?”

“Because she’s wanted.”

Kid got an impish gleam in his eye. “How much?” 

“Two hundred million Beri,” Renna swore she saw a vein throb in Kid’s forehead. She couldn’t quite remember what his bounty was, but she was sure it was nowhere near as high as Haven’s currently was. Renna had always found it very moronic the point of pride pirates took in their bounty size.

Renna perked up sensing something off. Someone was tense, stressed, and hurt; but who? She followed it ignoring Kid yelling behind her. She followed everyone as they finished bringing the loot back to the ship, weaving in and out of the pirates, until she came to a member of the crew she hadn’t met yet. He had long black hair and wore a beat-up blue bicorn that matched his equally worn-out coat. He didn’t even give her a side glance when she stopped in front of him.

“Where’s your injury?” She earned the glances of the crew as she stood off against her first declared patient. He continued to ignore her as he checked the contents of the crates. He didn’t appear to be limping so that most likely ruled out a lower extremity injury. She noticed several knives strapped to a belt and several more strapped to his legs. If he was a close-range combatant, then he could have easily taken an injury to his upper body. She meticulously observed him to see if a certain side was exhibiting stiffer movements than another.

“I do not need your assistance.” He finally acknowledged her presence.

“I’d beg to differ.” Renna snatched his right wrist before he could escape. He hissed at the contact and she was pleased that she’d deduced correctly. Shifting her grip to his hand, she gently lifted his sleeve to expose a long laceration up his forearm. The gash began on the edge of the forearm where the skin was barely hanging on and made its way to the center of his arm. “That’s what I thought. Sit down.”

“LIGHT ‘ER UP HEAT!” A flash of light flicked behind her, and she turned in time to see a ship go up in flames for the second time that day. 

“Renna, come to the helm!” The navigator called from the helm. What was his name again? She knew she had heard it in passing. Bicorn attempted to snatch his arm back from her to no avail.

She raised her eyebrow at Bicorn as he scowled at her. “Can I work on his arm at the same time?”

“Don’t care, hurry up!” Renna released his hand and waited for him to start walking to the sheltered helm before following. Inside, they found the unlucky marine lying at Kid’s feet next to a pile of eternal poses.

“You were right, it looks like several have been mislabeled. He won’t say which pose it is though.” The navigator– Tobio? No that wasn’t it– explained as they entered. “So we grabbed all of them.”

“Don’t make this harder on yourself than it has to be,” Renna said to the lump of marine on the floor. “You, sit.”

“I won't be the shame of my superiors!” Flint shouted only to receive a kick to the chest from Kid. Renna sighed heavily and rolled up the crewman’s sleeve. Tunic? Toonie? Tsuneo, that was it! –groaned pityingly at the sight of the cut.

“That must hurt like a bitch, Kaede.” He remarked. Renna adjusted his arm to view it in a better light. Looked like a tendon or two might’ve been nicked. 

“Alright, here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to be stitching up his arm. You,” she pointed at Tsuneo, “are going to ask him which pose is needed to navigate to G-14. And you,” she turned to the coughing Marine, “You are going to cooperate, and if you get smart, I’ll start cutting one of your extremities.”

She got to work on Kaede’s arm, and Kid told Tsuneo to get on with it so he could work on the shells while the test was fresh in his mind. The brunt of her focus went to patching his arm. A little investigation proved that a tendon was nicked, and she carefully tested his hand for weakness and instability as she let her haki listen to Flint. He was scared, but nothing had sparked her attention yet. Tsuneo kept up the questioning, holding up each pose, and asking it was the right one.

Pull a stitch close.

Hold up a pose.

“No.”

Wipe away the blood. 

Hold up a pose.

“No.”

In ninety degrees, out ninety degrees.

Hold up a pose.

“No.”

Pull a stitch– 

“Wait.” Renna looked up at Flint. Anxiety had tainted his person on his last answer, and she set aside the one in question. “Continue.”

As she finished fixing up Kaede's arm, she paid close attention to the atmosphere in the room. Flint’s anxiety had gone up but stayed at the same level the rest of the time.

“That was the last one.” Tsuneo set the final pose in the pile.

“Wrap this will you? Wrist to elbow.” She handed off Kaede’s arm to Tsuneo and picked up the Eternal Pose she’d set aside. The label on it read ‘Granite Flats’, and on the bottom was a note that read I+S, 7/7.

“Care to explain what I plus S seven dash seven means?” She looked up at Flint, who was trying very hard not to tremble. How old was this kid? He didn’t even have any whiskers trying to grow on his lip or chin. He must be brilliant to be the navigator so young.

“I– I think I heard the, the, the Captain say that’s when and where he, he met the l-ove of his life.” Anxiety and unease spiked again, and Renna held very still. His eyes flicked nervously from her own to the other pirates and back to her.

“You’ve lied twice now. Will you do it a third time?” She lifted the knife from her kit and flicked it open, blade gleaming in the candlelight. “Is this the eternal pose for G-14?”

His eyes fixated on the blade and he struggled to gulp.

“yes.” He barely managed to whisper. Renna handed the pose to Tsuneo then crouched by Flint. His head hung low as he swayed back and forth breathing raggedly. She pressed two fingers into his neck since his wrists were tied; she didn’t even need to count to know how high his pulse was. It seemed he was having a panic attack.

“Deep breaths kiddo, you’re not dead yet.” She murmured and tapped out a slow steady beat on his back for several minutes until his breathing started to steady out. “Now pick: right, or left?”

He stiffened up under her hand, but she continued to tap out the same steady beat. 

“You lied when I told you not to get smart, so there will be a consequence. Now pick. Right, or left.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *WHEEZE* Dang this one was a long time coming. But here it is, and I hope it was worth the wait!  
> For Bolt, I've decided to use American Sign Language, just because I'm a bit more familiar with it.  
> Not a lot else to say for this time around, but I am going to drop my tumblrs here. If you want to see more about Renna (and soon, Haven), you can check out my side blog specifically for them [here](https://greenwitchtaimanslayer.tumblr.com/). Also, my main blog is the same username as it is here, [mysticaltigersorceress](https://mysticaltigersorceress.tumblr.com/). Feel free to drop by and ask me anything, I don't mind!  
> Oh, I'll also mention that Haven is another OC of mine! I'm waiting to see more of what happens in Wano since that is where she would start mostly interacting with the canon story line! But she and Renna know eachother, so we will be seeing a bit more of her. :) Don't you love ocs? I do!  
> Now that I'm mostly back to work, I don't know how long it'll take until I can get the next chapter done, but I'm not planning on dropping this anytime soon! Thanks for reading, and all your sweet words! I swear y'all are giving me heart attacks! *mwaah*


	4. Don't Get Wet at Midnight, It's the Worst

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey hey hey! haha guess what? more fighting. if you don't want to hear about the injuries, don't @ me

"...Renna."

Renna stirred at hearing her voice. Ugh, what time was it?

"Oi, doc, wake up!" She sensed the jerk's intent to shake her awake and shot a hand out from under the covers to snatch their wrist.

"I'm awake." She groaned. "What do you want?" She twisted around in her blanket until she could give a one eyed glare at.... Beck.

"The boss and Killer and them want you in the war room. We'll be at G-14 soon." Of course they sent Beck. They had guessed correctly at whose head she was least likely to bite off if she were awoken at odd hours. "Hey, uhhh, are you-- decent?"

Renna pondered his phrasing. What did he mean by that? She couldn't remember what the phrase was supposed to mean in slang.

"Nghghhhmm?"

"Are you dressed?" Renna frowned. Was there any reason she shouldn't be? She tugged on her shirt, then her pants. Yeah, definitely still dressed.

Without bothering to answer him, she dropped into a crouch from the hammock to the floor, then stretched as she stood up.

"Which way to the war room?" She yawned.

Beck started pointing in about ten different directions as he explained all too quickly how to get there. A left and a turn and a right and something about a door and--

"You didn't catch any of that, did you?" Beck sighed. "I'll just show you the way."

Renna shook her head. "Once more, slowly. Go."

"Left, up the stairs, down the hallway, left again, bright red door with lots of gashes in it. You'll probably hear the Captain inside. Got that?"

"Left, stairs, hallway, left, red door, loud Captain." She repeated. She'd probably just follow the sound of their captain anyway.

"Great," Beck gave her a quick wave slash salute, "Later, then." Renna followed him out the door, then went left as he said. Up ahead of her was the stairway, then just after it was a long corridor. Left again at the end, now look for the red door.

Renna reached out, searching for the loudest presence she could find, then she found the large red door, which, sure enough, looked as if it had been a shield in a battle rather than a door. Figuring that since they had called for her and they were already expecting her, she slipped inside quietly without bothering to knock.

She narrowed her eyes as she entered, unhappy to adjust to the dim candlelight. Kid and Wire were arguing over a large ramshackle table, something about the best way to dismember someone who had extra limbs. Heat's back was to her as he strategized with Killer, so Renna gently settled against the wall, knowing they would acknowledge her when they were ready for her.

"What is taking them so long? I told Beck to send Renna up," Heat complained as he rose to his full height, "I swear, if he–" Renna jumped as Heat jumped and screeched like a cat getting startled. Renna stifled a snort as Kid and Wire collapsed over the table laughing at Heat.

"Did you not hear her come in?" Renna could hear the shit-eating grin in Killer's words as he leaned back in his chair. Heat shook his head as he attempted to salvage his dignity.

"Exactly how long has she been there?"

Renna felt the corner of her mouth twitch up despite her trying not to. "My apologies. I let myself in and didn’t wish to disrupt your conversation. I've only been here for a minute or so."

"You should have seen your fucking FACE!” Kid pounded the table as he howled. No wonder the table looked in such bad shape, it was quite the miracle it was still standing!

“Shut up!” Heat threw himself in a chair and folded his arms sullenly.

“Quiet down,” Killer gestured for Renna to sit at the table he currently occupied. “You can participate in the raid on a few conditions. First, you’re with my team the whole time, and you follow our orders. Second, if you fall behind, we’re not waiting or coming back for you. Do you have a problem with either of those?”

Renna shook her head. The terms were reasonable as long as they could avoid any misunderstandings.

“Understood. What’s the plan?”

Killer looked at Heat, who sat up a bit straighter and began to explain their plan. 

“We’ll have Kaede and the marine kid navigate the base, so we can find their records room as fast as we can. You’ll be keeping an eye on the marines that get close to us and warn us where and how many. Can you do that?”

“Yes.”

“Killer and I will be looking for what we need, and you can look for what you need at the same time. Can you still keep watch out for marines while you’re looking?”

“Easily,” Renna scoffed, “When do we start?”

“Are you ready?” Heat peered down at her skeptically. Was her current attire not suitable for a raid? Surely it was more practical than their flashy outfits.

“Whenever you are.”

“Then where are your shoes?”

Renna looked down to see her feet. Hmm, it was true, she had no shoes on. Was that a problem? Perhaps it would be if she were properly awake. It wasn’t as if she had lost her shoes again though. 

“I can put them on?”

“Let’s go,” Kid rose from the table and had barely exited the room before he bellowed, “GET YOUR ASSES ON_DECK! WE’RE BLOWING THIS FUCKING STATION!”

“I said quietly Kid!” Killer grumbled as he pushed himself out of his chair. “Meet us on the deck. Two minutes.”

Renna dashed out retracing her trail to the infirmary and threw her boots on in record time. Above deck, she found Killer, Heat, and Kaede waiting for her, along with their marine captive. The dark look in Flint’s eyes needed no vocalization as to his feelings toward her, but he quickly averted his gaze as she approached.

Kaede jumped first from the ship to the rampart, then signaled when it was clear for the next person to jump. Killer motioned for her to go next.

Renna backed up a bit and ran at the railing. Just as she jumped, she heard someone yell, “Have fun storming the fort!” Wind and salty spray whipped her face, effectively waking her the rest of the way up, and she smoothly rolled into a crouch next to Kaede. She spread her reach out as far as she could, feeling for the marines positions. She could feel two marines getting closer, from the watchtower to their right. Not spotted yet, likely just making their rounds. 

“Two, over there.” She whispered and pointed as the rest of the group joined them.

“INTRUDERS! IT’S A DIV–“ Killer hit Flint in the jaw with a nasty crack, and he slumped in Heat’s grasp.

Renna winced. Now the kid was missing half of his fingers  _ and _ had a broken jaw. This was definitely not a good week for him. However, his efforts had not been wasted. She and Killer charged the tower just as the door burst open. The two marines never even made it out the door as they were kicked into the opposite wall, crumbling to the floor like dolls. 

Kaede ran in and down the stairs first closely followed by Heat with Flint thrown over his shoulder. Renna followed behind him, and Killer pulled up the rear.

As they descended the stairs, cannon fire boomed from the sea. The raid had begun.

When they reached the end of the staircase, Kaede looked down each of the three corridors spread before him, then ran down the one to their right. Killer sped up so he could run next to Kaede, and Renna pulled up beside Heat. She kept a close eye on Kaede; he had yet to draw his knives, but with Killer and his odd sword gauntlet combo there, hopefully he would not have to. She had recommended he forgo using his hand for a few days to not put any strain on any of the weakened tendons in his wrist.

“Hold!” Renna snapped, and the company froze. Just a head of them, they heard running, then a door shut. The men waited for her signal. “Go!”

The group took off again, Renna telling them when to hurry or wait and Kaede occasionally stopping to poke his head into a few rooms until he finally gestured for them to enter. Through the door, they found a fully equipped transmission room, along with shelves upon shelves of archived information.

“Anything in here should be from now to exactly a year ago.” Kaede explained.

Heat dumped the still unconscious Flint against a wall and he and Killer went to work searching through the most recent of the files. Renna went further back; she needed to know if Haven had been spotted anytime in the last six months. It was a long shot, but she had to try.

The minutes sailed by far too quickly as she scanned through folders. At least the Marines had a decent filing system. She’d sooner shoot herself in the foot than deal with unorganized paperwork.

“Step back and shut the door!” She hissed over her shoulder when she sensed a handful of marines headed toward them. Everyone held their breath until she called it was clear again, digging furiously through files as their time disappeared.

White Horse reported entering the New World, five months ago. Good riddance, photogenic hot shot.

Marshall D Teach sighted near Drum four months ago and King Wapol reported missing four months ago. Bastards were better off without him. Whitebeard and the citizens of Drum alike.

_ Come on, be good for something you bloody marines! _

“Hey, Renna. What was your friend's name?” Renna blinked, and looked over at Killer. “Was it Haven?”

She dropped the papers she was holding and hurried over to him, and he handed her a file. She quickly scanned it over and smiled.

“That’s it! Thank you!” Renna’s eyes widened. “Someone’s coming!” She ducked behind a shelf while Heat shoved Flint under a table and Killer and Kaede positioned themselves behind shelves close to the door. Renna shut her eyes as she focused on the approaching person.

“Three, two…” Renna trailed off and the door burst open, the frantic Marine running to the nearest Den Den Mushi only to fall onto the table, several knives in his back.

“Times up.” The four ran out and began to retrace their steps toward the surface. “Renna, can you find Kid from here?”

She frowned and extended her reach out. How far into the base had they gone? “Soldiers!” She warned just before they turned the corner, and their lives ended with a flash of Killer’s blades. She searched for where the most frantic and heated emotions were. Up and to their left, that was where the marines were concentrated. She shut her eyes and pressed in that direction even harder, until she could barely hear notes of the pirates presences.

“The ship is that way, as are most of the Marines in the base.” She pointed and Kaede led them in that direction. Renna focused on thoroughly scrutinizing the marines positions to get an idea of the best way to reunite with the ship. From where she could sense people were, there were two different positions from which they exchanged fire with the Victoria Punk. There was also a portion of the wall in turmoil, and she recognized a few of the pirates’ presences, including Captain Kid. There were a lot of soldiers between them and everyone else; to go around them would take a long time though.

“Which way?” Kaede startled her out of her thoughts as they stumbled into a room with far too many doors.

“Short and fight, or long and–“

“Short!” Heat yelled. Renna took the lead and followed the sound of heated emotions down the corridors until the sounds of battle could be heard albeit muted through the walls. A group of armed marines burst from a door between them and their destination, though only a handful of them noticed the pirates at their backs.

“Pirates in the base!” One of them shouted and changed directions only to meet Killer and Heat’s blades. They charged onto the battlement first, clearing the path before them with ease. Renna growled at Kaede not to use his right hand and took down any soldiers who managed to not fall immediately at Killer and Heat’s onslaught. If the damaged tendon broke, she’d have to do surgery again; whether to repair the tendon or remove the hand would depend on how irritated she was.

“Hey, glad y’all could make it!” Blood splattered and a marine crumpled to reveal Mays with his pointed cocky grin, nail studded bat resting casually on his shoulder. Renna once again found herself wincing internally at his homemade weapon. She would be glad if she never had to be on the receiving end of that thing. Behind him, Kid was using his power to steal scores of swords and launch them back at their owners. His dark smirk was just a tad unsettling. “Well, shall we?” He swung the bat behind him, knocking a marine in the face and she really winced that time.

Mays bashed his way through several swordsmen and Kaede was beside him, blade flashing in the fire light. 

A roar came from behind her and Renna stepped out of the path of a spear, grabbing it and twisting it out of the soldier's hands to hit him in the head with his own weapon. From her side came a swordsman; she parried with the spear and kicked him in the chest, knocking him and several others off the wall.

Scores of marines later, the pirates all stood back to back, united: Kaede, Mays, Renna, Rascal, Harvey, Heat, Killer, and Kid.

"Ready when you are, boss!" Rascal grinned and slashed a marine who jumped too close.

Kid stepped back and let Killer take his place, raising his hand to shout a command that was lost to another volley of cannon fire, even with their proximity to him.

And then Rascal walked off the wall.

Renna’s jaw dropped a little at his nonchalant cliff jumping and then she sensed him stop falling moments later. What just happened? She disarmed a swordsman and slashed at another as she tried to solve the equation before her.

"Follow me doc, and careful not to slip!" Mays leapt off the wall without waiting for her response, and like Rascal, stopped falling after a second or two. She peered over the wall as Kaede leapt as well. She squinted at the dark water, until she could barely make out a silhouette of something circular above the water. What was that? And how was it sturdy enough to support them?

Renna threw her spear at the closest marine and turned to the edge. No time to question it. She envisioned her jump and landing, then with a little prayer (and a curse), she jumped off the edge after the pirates.

Cold icy spray stung her eyes as she plummeted into the darkness. Damn, that circle was small. She’d have to be careful not to–

Her feet slipped as she made contact and her arms pinwheeled a second before she seized the edges fiercely. It was metal. Was Kid levitating the disks? She frowned at the distance between her and the Victoria Punk and gripped the disk even tighter. This was going to be delightful.

Renna carefully rose into a squat and eyed her next target, about four meters away. No time to waste, there were others waiting behind her. She leapt and landed in a crouch on the next metal disk. Her feet stung beneath her but this time she didn’t slip. Renna paid close attention to Kaede, carefully watching each jump he made before she replicated it. The pirates must have had a lot of practice to be able to do these acrobatics in the little available light.

Slowly but surely with each leap, the fortress of G-14 got further away, and the Victoria Punk drew closer. The oddest bit to Renna was despite the constant cannon fire and hail of bullets, not one came close to the crew or the ship. Given her conclusions of Eustass’ devil fruit abilities, it really wasn’t that odd, but to be able to deflect the objects away from the crew and hold up the disks in a usable manner was quite the feat indeed.

The deck of the Victoria Punk was well lit, so she saw when Rascal made it to the deck. Mays was nearly there, and Kaede close behind. Renna was only four disks away. She crouched and leapt only for the disk to drop from beneath her and plunge her into the sea.

She fought her urge to gasp at the icy water clutching her and kicked back to the surface. Renna heard yelling from in front and behind her but she just had to focus on not letting panic take over as she swam the remaining distance to the ship.

Mays was climbing up a rope thrown over the side, so she wasn’t the only one who got dumped. Renna grasped the rope and hauled herself out of the water as fast as she physically could.

"Sorry, should have warned you, that's a fairly new move the boss came up with," Mays chattered as she reached the deck and helped her over the rail. Close behind her came Harvey and Heat, also soaking wet. Renna shivered and reached out for Kid and Killer. They were nearly to the ship, Killer dragging Kid through the water. 

"Go change into something dry, then let me check you over." Renna clenched and unclenched her hands, willing warmth to get back into them. "Kaede, come with me and let me check out your hand."

She left for the infirmary without waiting for a response. Mays jokingly saluted her and Kaede slowly trudged behind her. Once in the infirmary, she lit up multiple lanterns and kicked off her soggy shoes.

She took Kaede’s hand and had him slowly move his fingers and wrist in a variety of directions, asking if there was any pain or weakness. When she was finally satisfied, she sent him away with instructions to use his hand as little as possible. Mays had a long scratch down the back of his hand, but she deemed it not deep enough to warrant needing stitches and simply bandaged it. 

Once Mays was gone, she stripped off her wet clothes and hung them up and put on a dry pair of pants and a tank top. Now, she just had to hunt down everyone else to check them over.

Rascal had a few abrasions on his head where the hair was shaved for his mohawk and several cuts on his arms, but also nothing too serious. Harvey and Heat also came out nearly unscathed except for a few small cuts and scrapes. And then, there was Kid.

She found him in the galley, already changed into dry clothes and helping himself to an ungodly amount of sake.

“Did you sustain any injuries during the fight?”

“Do I look like I need a fucking doctor? Get lost, bit–”

“Kid.” Killer appeared in the doorway, still soaked from the sea. He only spoke Kid’s name, but something about his stance and the way he said it was downright intimidating. Kid seemed unaffected as he snarled back at his first-mate.

“I don’t need a doctor! They’re pieces of know-it-all shit, and I–” Kid glowered at Killer, who had yet to move a muscle. Renna watched their communication silently. How long did they have to know each other to know what the other meant without a word? 

With a growl, Kid shrugged off his coat and shirt to reveal his back. It was scrapped badly, several parts cut deeper than others. It wasn’t bleeding much, but it must have stung from the sea water getting in it. Renna almost asked how it happened, but decided to just take care of it as quickly as possible.

She carefully washed off his back and applied an ointment to the damaged skin. He only ever took another swig of drink, waiting for her to finish.

“Don’t bother,” Kid stopped her when she tried to apply a bandage. “It will be fine by morning.” He took his coat and shirt and left her alone in the galley.

She still hadn’t checked on Killer. Reaching out, she found his presence, quiet and alert; it reminded her of animals she had seen in the wild, watching her in passing but always ready to react to whatever might happen.

Renna found herself in front of a door, quite sure it was where Killer had said the officer’s cabins were. She knocked on the door, sensing he was the only one in there.

“Killer, do you have any injuries?”

The door opened a few seconds later, the ever present blue and white mask staring down at her. “I can take care of it.”

Renna narrowed her eyes at him. This, after the little showdown with Kid?

“I did not ask if you can take care of it, I asked if you had any.” 

He watched her silently a moment, before turning and lifting his shirt up a bit. Just like Kid, his side was heavily scraped, though his wound extended below his pants waist. But she could tell it had already been cleaned. 

“How’s your arm?” She relented and shifted her gaze to his arm. He pulled up his sleeve to show her stitches from the first day they met. They were clean and untorn, and in fact…

She took his arm and squinted at the wound. It looked a lot better than it should have, considering it had only been five days since she stitched it up. What kind of immune system did he have?

“Keep cleaning both of them, tell me if they get infected.” She released his arm and waved to him. “Night.”

“Night.”

* * *

Commodore Delaney let out a long sigh as he watched his troops sift through the smoldering debris for bodies and survivors, if there were any. Between the debris and blood splattered around, the demolished structure was near unrecognizable from his usually pristine G-14.

Damn those pirates! How had they even managed to navigate there? The only explanation he had was the supply ship that was supposed to arrive today. If they had intercepted it, then they very well could have taken their Eternal Pose, even with the protocol in place to prevent that from happening. Somethings you just couldn’t help. But for the first time in the three years since he had been placed in charge of G-14, there had been a successful raid by enemies, and they had been utterly humiliated by the rookie pirates.

"Commodore, we have news of the soldier found in the Communications room!" his partner, Lieutenant Lysander, called as he approached, hopping over broken chunks of stone. "Ensign Sellar Flint, navigator assigned to Rear Admiral Jean aboard the St Josephine. They've woken up and can give a statement once the doctor finishes assessing them."

"Good. Take over here with recovering the bodies so we can begin to contact their families." The Lieutenant saluted them and both went their separate ways.

Delaney wasn't sure what kind of luck Flint had to survive the Kid Pirates, but if he could give them any clues as to the Kid Pirates next move, it would be a blessing in disguise. Those pirates were causing more and more damage with every island they hit, and it seemed as if the higher ups were not taking this as seriously as they should. No, the one they were called the ‘Surgeon of Death’ called for much more attention right now. As if Eustass ‘Captain’ Kid hadn’t caused more casualties in the last month than the damn Surgeon. He saw the reports go through each month, they were an intelligence and communication station!

When the Commodore entered the infirmary, he made sure to check on all the conscious soldiers he could as he searched the head physician. Nods, salutes, and assurances of well being were exchanged between him and his troops, though most of it felt forced.

He finally found the head physician going through a recent amputee’s charts, and cleared his throat. “How’s the Ensign?”

The doctor yawned and gave him a dirty look. “Not well.”

Delaney exhaled deeply. “Is he in any condition that I can talk to him?”

“He’s lost a few fingers, minorly malnourished, has a serious concussion and a fractured jaw. What do you think?”

“…”

The doctor groaned and hung up his clipboard. “Five minutes. Do anything to get his pulse up and I’ll skin you alive Delaney.” He pointed to the far wall, where a bed had a curtain drawn around it.

Delaney grabbed a chair on his way and tapped his hand on the curtain before pushing it aside. The Ensign had strikingly white and grey hair that did not match his young face. Bandages wrapped his head and right arm, and he was hooked up to an IV as well. Bruises and scrapes adorned his skin, but he was in better shape than the Commodore would have guessed given that he had been held by the Kid Pirates.

“Ensign? We need to speak for a bit about what happened. Though I guess it’d be difficult for you to talk right now.” Flint tried to sit up, but Delaney pressed a hand to his shoulder. “Stay down, or the doc will have my hide.”

Flint relaxed a bit, but anxiety was written all over his expression. It was understandable, given the situation.

“Relax son, I don’t need your statement yet. But if there’s something you think we need to know right away, I want to hear it.”

Flint took a notepad from the side table and started to write with his left hand. How lucky was he that the pirates hadn’t injured his writing hand? Or was it on purpose? 

Flint held up the notepad, which read:  _ It’s not son, or daughter. _

Commodore Delaney blinked at the statement. “Oh. Apologies, Ensign. But can you tell me what happened.”

_ Attacked by the Kid Pirates. Killed our commanders and took me hostage after I smashed the Eternal Pose. _

So, Flint did break the pose according to protocol? Then that meant–

They held up the pad again:  _ One of the pirates knew about the back-up pose. _

“I see.” Commodore Delaney frowned. “Could you describe them?”

Flint glared at the pad and transcribed their answer. 

_ Female. Long dark blue hair. Tan, dark skin tone. Muscular, around 180 cm tall? Scar on her left cheek. _

“Thank you, Ensign,” Delaney rose from his chair and patted Flint’s leg. “Rest up now, we’ll take your official statement later.” Flint started to raise his right arm for a salute, then hesitated. The Commodore looked closely at his bandaged arm. The hand had been bandaged in a way that clearly showed the damage the pirates had done; Flint’s pinky and ring finger completely gone, along with the top portion of his pointer finger. How creative.

“You’re excused from saluting for now. I’ll come check on you again later.” Flint nodded, and the Commodore left.

Delaney scowled as he headed for his office. This was not a report he looked forward to making. But last he had heard, the Kid Pirates did not have any women in their crew, just a bunch of freakishly tall men in punk getup. So just who was their accomplice? And how did she know about secret military protocol? He sighed and sat at his desk and pulled his Den Den Mushi closer to him.

But something about Flint’s description of their accomplice seemed familiar. A woman with blue hair and a scar on her cheek.

A loud crash followed by a few screams distracted him from his thoughts. Ugh, what a nightmare this whole situation was. And now, he had to report to Marine HQ. This was going to be a wonderful day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N:   
> Wow, that took forever, ngl. But thank you to everyone who's reading!! I made a lot of art when I wasn't writing, and you can check it out [here](https://greenwitchtaimanslayer.tumblr.com/).   
> So after last chapter, I fleshed out Flint a tiny bit and WHOOPS got attached, so guess who's a relevant side character now!  
> Anyway, if you like what I'm writing, you might like some of the stuff I have book marked, so you should totally check it out.


	5. Cooking Instructions: Don't

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _(No warnings for this chapter except for a very minor injury. I almost went one chapter without someone getting hurt lol. But I'll leave most of my notes at the end :3)_

Renna sighed. Judging by how light the sky was growing, it was probably around six in the morning. Normally, being awake at this hour was no problem. However, she had only snagged a few hours of sleep before the raid, and exhaustion was taking its toll. Taking a spontaneous swim in the ocean hadn't helped either. After she’d finally finished checking over the crew, she gave herself a quick check-up as she washed herself of the salt and grime of the sea, and was now braiding her hair before she tried to catch some sleep.

The ship shook with a mighty crash and she glared at the roof. Most of the crew had decided to celebrate after the successful raid. Kid hadn't joined them nor discouraged it; he simply disappeared into his workshop. Renna figured that out from the sound of him working in there. Killer’s priority was recording and going over the information he’d obtained, so he hadn't joined in either. 

Nevertheless, that did not deter the crew from indulging their festive spirit. They gathered up what food and drink they were allowed and kicked a party into action. 

Renna had been invited, however, she opted out. She was tired and needed to take into account the information she herself had gathered and what it meant for her plans. After the ruckus on the last island, she still needed to get some distance first of all. She also still wanted to get to Salkhad in a timely manner, but if she had to choose to fight vs meeting up with Haven, then she knew what she would choose.

Renna’s head jerked and she blinked furiously. Ugh, this would have to wait until after she’d slept. She could decide where exactly she would head _after_ she parted ways with the Kid Pirates. Renna tied the end of her braid and tucked herself into the hammock, cocooning herself within her blanket. The ruckus coming from the deck was irritating, but sleep came quickly as she finally let herself relax. The world dwindled to grey, consciousness drifted into comfortable oblivion, and just when her grip on reality faded…

There was a soft knock on the wall. 

“Hey, doc!”

She was _sleeping_ . She was not going to answer. Whatever it was could _wait._

“Renna-san?”

Go away!

“DooOOoooc!”

_Someone was about to_ **_die_ ** _._

_“What?”_

“They need you in the galley!” 

Renna was fairly sure it was Mikio talking. Poor kid. Was it too soon for him to part with this world? The world was cruel, and yet he was so young. Oh well. He would be a sufficient sacrifice for her sleep.

“Is someone dying?”

“I... don’t think so?” 

“Is someone mortally wounded?”

“... not that I know of?”

“Then it can wait, I’m sleeping.”

“They want your help making breakfast.”

“... no, they don’t.”

Mikio paused, expression twisted with confusion. “But Killer–”

“I can’t cook,” Renna yawned. “I can guarantee that you do not want me preparing your food.”

“Come on, you can’t be as bad as Rascal! He’s been banned from the galley except for mealtime, and sometimes even during meals too!”

“I’d ask if you want to make a bet on that, but I doubt you want food poisoning.” 

Mikio huffed exasperatedly. “Tell Killer-san you can’t cook yourself, I’ve got watch duty.”

Mikio’s footsteps faded and Renna groaned into her blanket. She was still exhausted but her mind had become clear of fatigue once again. 

Fine. Killer wanted her to cook? He was about to get a sharp taste of reality. He _would_ regret asking her to help cook. Whether by destroying his taste buds or by simply pummeling him was to be decided.

Renna dragged herself from her hammock, irritation building as she made her way up to the galley. As she climbed the narrow stairway, a large crash shook the whole ship nearly knocking her off her feet. It was by far the biggest crash that she’d heard while aboard the Victoria Punk. 

Harsh yelling echoed from the bowels of the ship, though whether the shouts were positive or negative she couldn’t quite tell. But she was fairly sure it was the Captain. He was definitely the loudest out of this bunch of raggers.

Whatever his issue was, it wasn’t her problem unless he somehow managed to lose a limb. But, those weren’t the right kinds of screams, so his appendages were probably still intact.

In the galley, she found Killer alone, mask pointed in the general direction of Kid’s yelling. His usually wild mane was pulled back into one massive braid. (The fact that the hair tie didn’t break was astonishing.) 

He hovered over the stove and dropped some leaves into one of the pots, mask still trained in the direction of Kid's workshop. Renna felt overwhelmed by the plethora of ingredients spread haphazardly across the countertops. If there was any method to the madness, she couldn’t see it. It wasn’t surprising though, she had never spent much time in a kitchen.

Killer looked her way as she approached. “Do you know why he’s yelling?”

“No. Listen–” 

Killer stepped away from the stove, he untied and dropped his apron over her shoulder as he walked past. “Watch this while I check on Kid.”

“Wait! I- I can’t cook! I don’t know a bloody thing about it!” Renna protested and tried to hand the apron back. He stopped and partially turned, looking from the offered apron up to her face.

“Are you going to deal with the Captain?” 

Renna clenched her jaw at his question. No, but that didn’t mean she knew what to do with the food!

“No, but–”

“Just stir what’s on the stove,” Killer cut her off with a wave of his hand. “I’ll just be a few minutes.”

…

And he was gone. 

_Jackass._

Renna glared at the empty doorway then cast dubious glances at her surroundings. There were so many leaves and bags and bottles. What was in them? What did they do? The Kid Pirates had enough sense in them not to keep poison or venom or other lethal substances away from their food, right? 

Who was she kidding, that would take an enormous amount of faith she did not have in the men who left a rotting carcass on their ship.

Something on the oven popped and Renna jumped. Was it supposed to do that?

Oh, bloody hell, she should not be allowed anywhere near the galley! Sure, she could clean, but that was about it. What the hell had happened to the two cooks? Renna tentatively peaked out onto the deck. Kurosuke and Wells were nowhere to be seen, though several crew members were sprawled around the deck passed out. Two or three were still wrestling and dancing around. Renna scowled at them. _Bastards_.

Renna bit her cheek and looked back at the stove. She and cooking didn’t mix, never had. But she had to at least better make an effort. If Killer was going to be angry with her, she might as well have tried and failed. She had warned him that she couldn’t cook.

Though, he didn’t ask her to _make_ something. She just had to stir. She could handle stirring, right?

Renna set his apron on the counter and cautiously approached the stove, upon which were two large pots and one smaller pot. Wait, which needed to be stirred? Did all three need to be stirred? She didn’t have that many hands! Dammit, why didn’t Killer specify! 

Renna forced herself to take a calming breath. _See what’s happening first. Make a logical decision._

The smallest pot didn’t have any heat coming from it, and a peek inside revealed it had some sort of white, creamy sauce. It probably didn’t need to be stirred. Probably. It would be safe if it wasn’t on the flames, right? She'd hope that was the case.

The pot on her left held some noodles in boiling water. Did the noodles need to be stirred? Water didn’t burn, or at least that’s what many people had claimed. (And she had disproved that on more than one occasion.) 

But would the water protect the noodles from burning? There wasn’t a spoon in it, nor was there one nearby, so Killer must not have been stirring them, right? Renna would assume that for now.

The final pot had a ladle hanging off the side and inside was a stew. It was dark and thick and– oh it smelled wonderful! She better not screw this up, she wanted to eat this. 

She warily took the spoon and made circular motions in the stew, trying to recall anything she had heard about cooking in the past. Should she go fast? Slow? Was it supposed to be bubbling? If so, how much? What if she didn’t stir enough, or stirred too much?

“HEY, what’s cookin’?” Renna jumped yet again when the door banged open and Rascal strolled inside. When he saw her, he stopped and pointed at her. “You’re not Killer.”

Renna rolled her eyes. “You figure that out on your own?”

“Yup!” He grinned broadly and swayed over. He reeked of alcohol, and it looked like he had spilled quite a bit on his fur coat as well. Rascal leaned over her to see what was in the pot. “Can I taste?” Renna sidestepped so he wasn’t directly over her and kept stirring. 

“I’m not the chef, don’t ask me.” She scowled. 

He dipped a finger into the stew and sucked the sauce off his finger with a smile. Renna fixed him with a glare but kept stirring. And then she stopped. Sniffed the air. That... wasn’t soup. 

“What’s burning?”

“SHIT!” Rascal flailed and Renna shrieked as the spoon was knocked from her hand and hot stew splattered across the room. Warm light caught her eye and Renna discovered the source of the burning smell: Rascal’s fur coat had been set ablaze!

Rascal yelled and slapped at it in an attempt to douse the flames. Renna frantically searched the room for something to put the fire out. Where was there water? Barrel of beer? No! Bucket of oil? Hell no! 

_Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIIIIIT!_

Rascal continued screaming like an idiot but at least he was now trying to take his coat off. He ran past a mop and– water bucket! She leapt to the bucket and heaved the contents at Rascal. He shrieked from the impromptu shower and fell silent. With the flames gone, Renna breathed a small sigh of relief. But, one thing came to mind: how had his coat caught fire in the first place?

“Why did you turn up the stove?” Killer stormed into the galley and Renna whipped around when she realized what he meant; the stove burner's flames were twice as large as they were before! Renna lunged and twisted the knob, accidentally turning it bigger and shrieked before successfully turning it off.

“I’m sorry, I–”

Killer slipped and crashed into the stove, legs flailing ever so gracefully. The pots teetered and spilled but Renna snatched them before the pots fell on Killer. 

_HOT! BLOODY! FUCK!_

Renna yelped and shoved the pots back further on the stove. Obviously, the pots would be hot! Bloody HELL her arms stung! But she didn’t think it was a serious burn. Renna chanced a careful glance around the room. Stew was splattered everywhere, the floor soaked, and the smell of burned fur lingered in the air. Killer sighed from the floor. The sound whistled a bit coming through his mask. 

“Rascal. Why are you in the galley?”

The tall ginger froze at the ice in Killer’s voice. Panic filled his expression and he dropped into a short bow. “Sorry, Killer-san!”

“Clean this up.” 

“Yes sir!” Rascal scrambled out, yelling if anyone knew where the mop was. Renna eyed the mop discarded on the floor. He must not have noticed it in his panic. Someone on the deck hollered at him to shut up. Someone else told him where he could shove the mop when he found it.

Killer was still sprawled on the ground. His eyes were on her, his emotions flickering between anger and irritation. She carefully squeezed her fingers together to keep herself from fidgeting.

“Sorry, I must’ve accidentally turned the knob.” She held her hand out to him. His irritation mellowed slightly and he took her offered hand. Clasping her other hand over his, she pulled him up until he was towering above her again. But he didn’t let go of her hands when he stood upright. He took her wrists and turned them over to examine her forearms.

“I’m fine.” She tugged her hands from his grasp. “I’ll help clean up, this was–”

“No,” Killer folded his arms. “Rascal knows he isn’t allowed in the galley. After breakfast, you’re done for today. It’s been a long night. Go run cold water over those burns.”

He left no room to argue, just donned his apron and rummaged through some drawers. Renna pursed her lips and turned the faucet on, letting the cool liquid relieve some of the sting. Something soft hit her shoulder and fell to the ground. Poking it with her foot, she discovered it to be another apron, this one a very stained maroon. She eyed Killer and the apron suspiciously as she put it on then shook the excess water droplets from her arms. 

“Chop these up,” Killer instructed, setting a knife on the counter next to some carrots and celery.

Chop vegetables. 

Chopping vegetables was not cooking. It was only cutting stuff up. Renna could do that! She was great at cutting stuff up!

Renna took up the knife with grave solemnity and selected a carrot. The carrot appeared clean? She held the root in place and put the blade to it, then hesitated. 

“How should I slice them?” She glanced at Killer over her shoulder. His back was to her, hovering over the stove again.

“Bite-size.”

Oh, that was helpful, since everyone on this crew was a bloody giant. 

“Your bite-size or my bite-size?”

“Your bite-size is fine. Chop the celery smaller.”

She nodded and faced the vegetables again. Okay, small! Bite-size! Bite-size. _Oh, bite me, why am I doing this!?_

Renna mentally shook herself. She could cut a damn bloody root! She eyed what looked like a reasonable size and set the knife to the carrot again. She took a deep breath. And pushed the knife through the carrots’ flesh.

The knife made a very satisfying noise when it struck the counter. The end of the carrot rolled a tiny bit after it was separated from its former self.

She did it. 

She cut the carrot. 

No one died. No fires. No screaming, explosions, or mass panic. 

She lifted the blade of the knife and pressed it through the carrot again. Hey, this wasn’t so–

“I CAN’T FIND THE MOP!”

Renna jolted at the bang of the galley door as Rascal burst back into the kitchen.

Killer gestured with his thumb in the direction of the mop. Renna waited for him to laugh or comment at her reaction, but he said nothing. Must’ve not seen it because of the mask. 

Which drew another question to her mind. How did he fight, with only those few holes in the front of his mask? That would seriously limit his field of vision, and completely cut off his peripheral vision. She had only seen him fight a handful of times now? He probably was not going all out either. Yet he fought with deadly accuracy. Did he have Kenbunshoku haki? Hmm, but he didn’t know it by name when she originally mentioned it. Perhaps he had learned to use it a bit unconsciously. 

“You going to stare at those carrots or cut them?” Renna startled yet again and got back to work. She heard snickering and looked up to see Rascal’s mohawk poking up from behind the counter. It grew taller as he peeked at up her, stupid grin and sunglasses mocking her.

She glowered at him and lightly pointed the knife at him. His non-existent eyebrows raised in dismay and he dropped out of sight again, the sound of sloshing water and scrubbing resumed. 

Seriously though, what was with the number of missing eyebrows on this crew? Was it some sort of initiation ritual? Or one of those weird crew uniforms? Like masks, or tattoos, or piercings! _Captain’s burnt his eyebrows off again, let’s all join in too!_ But missing facial hair of all things…

Renna brushed the thought off. She needed to finish these vegetables off so she could sleep! As she chopped, she gained a little speed, and soon, her little pile of chopped vegetables was added to the pot. Killer had her ring the bell to announce mealtime. 

Despite most of the men being completely wasted, a surprising number managed to stumble their way into the galley. 

Before Renna could escape, several bowls of the stew were dropped in her arms with instructions to take it to the helm and crows nest. 

In the helm, Tsuneo and Harvey started wolfing down the food as soon they had it, gratitude implied through the eating rather than the speaking. Renna found that climbing the shrouds proved difficult while balancing two bowls of stew in one arm, but Mikio and Bolt both thanked her profusely when she passed them the hot food.

When she finally made it back to the galley, Killer was gone. Was she done? Could she go to sleep now?

“Over here, doc!” It took her a moment to find who was calling her, but she finally realized it was Heat and Wire. Heat waved her over and Wire pointed at an empty spot across from him with a full bowl. They had saved a seat and a bowl for her? Perhaps sleep could wait for a bit longer. She silently swung herself on the bench and dug in. 

Renna nearly moaned when she tasted the stew. Not that the other chefs’ cooking had been bad, but this was heavenly! Why wasn’t Killer cooking more often? It was savory and rich and warmed her from the inside out. Perhaps she could have crafted a better-detailed compliment if she weren’t so fatigued.

“Like it?”

She simply nodded as she chewed, and they both nodded in agreement and followed suit. Banter of various decibels came from the other men, but the three sat in silence and simply enjoyed their meal. A plate full of noodles clattered to the table and Killer sat across from her.

The way Killer ate was fascinating; he made it look far easier than she suspected it was. He must have been wearing that mask for a very long time. Chopsticks picked up the noodles and shoved them through the holes in an incredible feat of dexterity and were slurped with equal practice and skill. To stare would be rude, but she couldn’t help but watch the noodles disappear at the edge of her vision. 

Heat dropped his spoon into his bowl and arched backward, stretching his back and rolling his neck so that it popped several times. “The information you got last night about your friend. Was it good?”

Renna slowed down her next bite and glanced at him. His face wasn’t very expressive, but he seemed genuinely curious. Whether he had good or bad intentions, she wasn’t sure.

“Yes.” She'd keep it short and simple. No need to say more than necessary.

“So you aren’t worried that she was last sighted with the Fishman Pirates?” Heat asked.

If they knew anything about Haven, the answer would be obvious. But that wasn't really their business. It would probably be even more obvious if they knew anything of the history of the Fishman Pirates. Would they know anything of it, coming from the South Blue? 

“No. She’s in good hands.”

“Hands or fins?” Wire muttered. Renna fixed him with an icy glare next. Was that really necessary? Heat sighed beside her.

“What’s the interest in Haven, or as they called her in their report, the Green Witch?” Killer interrupted. 

She took another bite to avoid having to answer immediately. Killer sure had been quick to get to the point she wanted to avoid. Renna set the spoon down slowly, then flicked her eyes up at Killer. That blue and white mask of his was really beginning to irk Renna. Was he holding her gaze? Rolling his eyes? He could be sticking his tongue out at her for all she knew. Haki could only get her so far, and without facial cues to watch for, reading his body language was a bloody nightmare. Heat and Wire silently waited to see what would transpire. Renna let out a breath and squared her shoulders. 

"She did not choose to work for the Marines. She left as soon as the opportunity arose. They were displeased with her decision. That’s all there is to it." Renna narrowed her eyes at the masked man, daring him to keep pushing the subject. 

Killer was the first to move, picked up his chopsticks, and shoved more noodles in his mask. Renna rose. She was done with this.

“How’d she get the name Green Witch?”

Renna stood abruptly and left the galley. It was none of their bloody business, and if they really wanted to know, they could find out the normal way: either meeting her themselves or hearing stories of her exploits.

* * *

The three men watched the stern doctor disappear from the galley.

“Well, ain’t she in a bitchy mood.” Wire spoke for them all.

“She obviously didn’t want to talk about her friend with us,” Heat rolled his eyes, “But _why_?” 

The two turned to their masked friend, who was still stuffing noodles in his mask holes. Heat yawned, his mouth opening impossibly wide and leaned back in his seat, while Wire folded his arms. The noodles were long, but when the last of the strands disappeared with a loud _sluuURP_ , they asked again. “So, what did you find?”

“I searched the bounty posters, found her friend.” Killer pulled a folded paper from his pocket and dropped it on the table. Heat grabbed it first and unfolded it. His eyes widened as he read it aloud.

“Green Witch Persica Haven, Only Alive, Two Hundred Million Beri.”

“Only Alive?” Wire snatched the poster from Heat. Sure enough, it read ‘Only Alive’ right above her name. The photo on the poster was blurry and black and white, and something obstructed the view in the top right corner, but in the center of the picture was a close-up of a smiling young woman with short curly hair and a large scar on her forehead. 

Killer nodded. “That’s an old poster, I took it from a bar back on Lumi Jää. The only information it has is a vague description and her name. But the lack of information says something.” He shifted forward and lowered his voice. 

“Renna just told us she left the marines. They want her back, alive. Therefore, she has something they want. Probably information. Maybe a skill or ability. But they don’t want people to know what it is.”

“If she’s that important, why haven’t they gone after her themselves? Why trust it to bounty hunters?” Heat wondered.

Killer was silent for a bit, considering every possibility of why or why not with the limited information he had acquired.

“The consequences,” Killer surmised. “Whatever the consequences are for pursuing her, it isn’t something they are willing to take on directly.”

“Heh. Sounds like a challenge to me.” 

All their eyes shifted to their Captain, who was filling his bowl up with more of the stew. Looks like Killer’s cooking had managed to draw Kid from his work, and he looked like a tired fucking mess. His lipstick had yet to be reapplied, slightly smudged on the edges as was his favorite eyeliner. He was also covered in grease and oil, plus, he had singed some of his hair again, the red tips now black in a few random patches. Probably had been tweaking the formula yet again for that specialized cannonball he was making.

“You want to go after someone the marines think twice about going directly after?” 

“They’re all fucking pussies,” Kid barked, “Too concerned with keeping up their ‘image’ for the people who overlook all the shit they pull in the name of ‘Justice’.”

“You can’t exactly collect her bounty yourself, Boss.”

Kid rolled his eyes. “No fuck. But it sounds like a good challenge.” Kid stalked over and eyed the bounty poster in Wire’s hands. He scowled at the smiling portrait. “It’s a fucking brat.” He deadpanned. 

“Say’s the photo was taken about three years ago,” Killer said, though he did agree. She looked like she was maybe fifteen in the picture at best? 

“Those cock-suckers are a bunch of chickens.” Kid snorted in disgust and left as quickly as he had come. Killer’s cooking might have been enough to draw him out temporarily, but nothing could keep him away from a project for long when he was in the zone. 

Wire passed the poster back to Killer. “Think he’ll seriously go after her? We’re not bounty hunters.” 

“If her path ever happened to cross ours? Probably,” Killer tucked the poster back in his pocket. He doubted Renna would take kindly to them showing off Haven’s poster. Which brought several questions to his mind. How did they know each other? Why was the doctor so protective of the young woman? What was the reason the marines wouldn’t directly approach Haven? These questions created an itch for knowledge in Killer’s mind. And he still had to ask her more about Haki and how she used it. The time until they reached Salkhad was nearly finished, and they would part ways. Though, Renna had agreed that she could provide knowledge about the Grandline.

Perhaps he could find out the answers to his questions in a more round-about way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _A/N: OH MY GOSH IT"S BEEN SO LONG HI YALL HOW ARE YOU? I hope you enjoy the new chapter! Life's been a lot crazier than I initially planned, and took so many unexpected roads, but here I am! A huge thank you to my friends who've helped me stay positive and motivated, I love y'all so much!  
>  So this took a few roads I was not expecting it too, but that's because I've decided a few things that I originally hadn't really planned on! But Haven will be taking a larger part in the story as of this moment.  
> I have also gone back and done a tiny bit of editing, mostly changing 'Beli' to 'Beri' because I wrote a little nursery rhyme and well it made more sense. Also fixed a few small spelling errors, but nothing else has changed!  
> I can't make any promises as to when the next chapter will be, I've nearly completed a series of important exams, and after that I have one final exam before I'm certified! I'm so excited :D But this is what's keeping me sane between all the other stuff happening in my life!_

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: i know that it's showing my end notes twice. IDK why. I'll work on it later. IDK what is happening. The second notes with more reasonable link sizes is the one I can edit and change.  
> A/N: Wow I can't believe I'm finally publishing something I've written! First, thank you to [nicorobinreads](https://nicorobinreads.tumblr.com/) and [laws-yellow-submarine](https://laws-yellow-submarine.tumblr.com/) for previewing this. I've linked both their tumblrs because I absolutely love their content! An especially big thank you to laws-yellow-submarine for inspiring/encouraging me to go hog-wild with my ocs! I adore Hazel and Skylar! Also, a shout out to razbliuto ([ohpineapples](https://ohpineapples.tumblr.com/)) for writing such an amazing story! [Methyl Nitrate Pineapples](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11675634/chapters/26276871) is so captivating, and I absolutely love Sophie! Can't wait to have her make a mini appearance! (Srry, but it won't be until Sabaody.)  
> Fun Facts: So originally, Renna's Fighting Name was going to be Midnight Flare, in reference to her speed and dark blue hair. But then, I came across the Japanese word Kawaakari. It can be interpreted as moonlight, reflected on the surface of flowing water. It fit everything I had wanted to encompass in her name, so I'm so glad I found it!  
> Credit to Library of Ohara, for their [One Piece Timeline](https://libraryofohara.com/the-one-piece-timeline/), which I used to help figure out my timeline, you are doing the work of god. Bless you, amen and hallelujah.


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